A Mean Cycle
by CallMeJess5793
Summary: Hard-working Bella Swan has gotten the internship she's been dreaming about for years, but what happens when she uncovers a dark secret in the company that some may go to any lengths to uld her friends pasts be the downfall of her future? AH ExB
1. Broken Elevators

**Chapter 1... **

**(the stars- they mean that there is a picture of the aforementioned item on my website... link on my profile)  
**

**Enjoy...  
**

It's was my last day in Australia, the final hours in which I would be cooped up here with limited places to go; limited things to see. I had received an internship with a company in New York at a law firm called Cullen International Law Firm or CILF. I was actually really excited for the move.

I wanted to go to New York ever since I was 16. Before that I was obsessed with the idea of London, but that was put out of my mind the day my dad was offered a job in New York. All I could think was – expensive heels and business suits.

Of course that all whittled down into nothing when my mother died and dad said that we needed to stay here and be with the family in a trying time I personally couldn't think of a better time to make a new start far away from our old life

But, alas, I had no say in the matter. I finished my education at a modest public school, and made a few acquaintances that helped me get through the years without being a complete loner.

I was top of my class, valedictorian and dux. I received the highest mark in the school that year achieving an ENTER of 99.85. Then I attended university at Melbourne University* and got my degree in law. Now at the mere age of 23 I was going to New York to achieve my dreams.

When my mother died, I was heart-broken. I was seriously torn apart. It threw my whole world off balance. She was everything to me. I hadn't known what to do with myself, how to act - nothing. Until a letter arrived one day addressed to me, from my mother. The only explanation that I had was that she knew that this day would come, where I would need her and she wasn't there. That letter was what saved me from dying along with her.

_Dear Bella, I know that my passing must be hard on you. No one expected it not to be, but you have to understand me when I say that you have to move on with your life, and live it the way that your father and I, and most of all yourself, had intended too. When I was your age I had a dream as well, but I didn't follow mine and to this day, even as I write you this letter, I feel a pang of regret for not having followed my dreams. I don't want you to make that mistake as well. I have been saving my money since I was your age to do something similar, but I never got to use mine. At the bottom of this letter is the bank account number. Use it to make YOUR dream come true._

_P.S. This is your an my little secret, so don't tell your father…I'm taking it to my grave._

Ever since then I made it my goal to achieve exactly what I wanted. I wasn't going to make the same mistake that my mother made. I was going to follow my dreams. If not for me than for her.

***

"Have you got everything Bells?" Dad asked as he handed me my handbag.

"Yeah" I nodded as I looking down at my booted feet. My father and I had never really been very big on all that lovey-dovey, touchy-feely stuff… he left that to Mum.

"_Final boarding call for flight AO2596 to New York." _

"Well I guess this is it Dad" I said looking up at him for the final time.

He nodded a slow nod and then took me into his firm and steady grasp. "I'll miss you Bells," he whispered in my ear.

"I'll miss you too Dad" I said wiping the tears from my eyes before they had a chance to spill over.

"Alright enough of this. You best get going before you miss your flight."

I nodded my head and gave him a weak smile. Then I picked up my bag, headed for the line to board the plane and waved my dad a small and bittersweet farewell.

***

I arrived at the John F Kennedy International Airport at exactly 11:32pm the following night. The architectural design of the building was amazing. A structural curve here and a straight line there… a work of art. My friend Angela would have been in heaven.

She was at The University of Melbourne with me but she was studying architecture. She was the person that taught me to love a building, the way that the lines and small and individual pieces of a building made it into art. She taught me to see a building the way it was meant to be seen.

The hustle and bustle of people in the airport was astounding, even though it was the middle of the night. It just went to show that the term "city that never sleeps" was entirely correct.

I pushed and shoved my way through the people to get my luggage, and then pushed and shoved some more so that I could get a taxi. I didn't bring a lot of stuff over with me. I was doing my best to make an entirely new start. Though I did make sure to bring a few necessities; like a winter coat*.

The chill in the wind would have been almost unbearable if it weren't for the fact that I loved the cold. I snuggled into my brand new, long winter coat and hailed a taxi.

The next taxi that pulled up came to a stop right in front of me; I smiled to the sky thanking the man upstairs for doing me this one small favor and proceeded to put my things in the trunk.

20 minutes later I was driving down a fairly nice street. There were no trees nor were there any plants of any kind really, but the city held a certain aura that made living here that much more exciting. I hadn't been poor when I arrived in the US, how could I have been when I worked an average of 20 hours a week at the local McDonald's trying to earn the money that I needed? And I didn't spend a cent of it, just so that I could move to New York. So I knew when I got there that I needed to go shopping. I had only brought what I owned that would be appropriate for this climate. Tracksuits and thermals, oh and what I had bought the day before so that I wouldn't look like a hobo when I arrived. _Note to self: need to go office wear shopping…_

We continued down the small busy street and then turned onto another. As we drove along the roads, they seemed to get nicer as went along.

_We must be closer to the heart of the city._

Before I knew it we were stopped outside a tall apartment building. The severe darkness of the night prevented me from getting a good look at it, but it seemed decent. I felt a small flutter in my stomach. I was here, I was really here. New York - the city that never sleeps; a place where one can do nothing but walk around for a week and still not have come close to seeing everything. It was amazing, all that I had dreamed of and more.

I smiled to the cab driver as I got out and paid. He popped the boot and I grabbed my two suitcases. Handbag on shoulder, I proceeded to the door.

-

I got to the door of the building and reached out my gloved* hand and pulled the handle on the glass door. It swung wide open but not easily, and I struggled to get my bags through the door. Placing them behind me I grabbed the door handle and pulled as hard as I could, then I stuck my bum in front of it to hold it open and continued to haul my bags into the lobby.

I groaned loudly as my bag refused to fit between me and the door and shoved it back towards the outside. Trying to think of different methods to help me through when a light bulb went off. I quickly unhitched myself from the door and did the same as last time but instead of shoving my bum in the way, I shoved one of my bags in to stop the door from fully closing. Then I got my other bag and pushed it up against the first, pushing them through the remaining gap in the door.

Both bags slid through the gap nicely and the door closed behind them, but because the door closed so suddenly I went sprawling straight into the door, banging my nose and biting my tongue.

"OUCH," I moaned

I clung onto my frozen tongue and pulled the door open for the fifth time that night, but slid through on my own.

As I grabbed my bags and rounded the corner in the building I came across a room with the door open. In there sat two large, older men laughing and stuffing their faces with donuts. I came to a stop by the door and looked in. What I found in front of the men annoyed me. They were sitting in front of the monitor that showed the footage the security camera was capturing… the security camera that was currently pointed at the door…the door that I had just struggled my way through.

I cleared my throat to get their attention but they only swiveled around in their chairs to look at me and burst out laughing.

I frowned and cleared my throat again.

"Sorry, miss," the larger one said. "Can we help you?"

"Apart from the fact that your help would have been much appreciated at the entrance over there, I would like the key to my room thank you." I said as I took my gloves off and placed them in my bag.

"Name?" the other overly rotund man said from his chair.

"Isabella Swan. Why? Do you have any other Australians flying in at midnight?" I bit back.

"No ma'am we just need to know that you're who you claim to be. Can we please see some I.D.?"

I nodded and took out my wallet, handing him my Australian driver's license

_I'm going to need to get a new one of those_

The second man nodded his head and handed me my license back along with two envelopes. One small and one large one with the logo Cullen International Law Firm printed on the top.

_No doubt details about the internship._

I opened the small envelope there on the spot, and tipped the contents out onto my hand. Out fell a key and a note.

_Miss Swan, _

_Enclosed you will find the key to your new apartment. Please note that this is not your key and in the event of your departure you must return the key or pay a fine which will cover the cost of new locks and keys. _

_Your apartment number is 7B, on level 7._

_Please note the following rules…_

I finished reading about the rules in the apartment -usual things like noise and power, bills etc.

As I placed the key in my pocket along with the rest of the letter I looked up to the two older men that were still watching me.

"It started snowing outside you know? It was absolutely beautiful." I felt a giddy smile rise on my face as I remembered spinning around in it.

"Oh great. Now we will have to shovel the doorway in the morning and pour the salt because Hank is getting in late tomorrow…. Just our luck," the larger man grumbled.

I smiled to the other man who rolled his eyes and gave me a quick wink, making me feel slightly uncomfortable. Taking that as my cue to leave, I swiveled around and headed towards the elevator.

"Um, Isabella!" the smaller guard called out.

"It's Bella, but yes?" I said, turning to face the guard.

"Sorry but the elevator is due for maintenance, so it's currently out of order." His face bore a mixture of regret and guilt.

I sighed, a pained sigh, and nodded my head, walking towards the stairs that were located behind the security desk and preceded my climb up seven dreadful flights of stairs.

_Thank God I didn't have more bags. _

***

I placed the key in the lock, jiggled it a little and pushed the door open. I winced as it squeaked, silently hoping that my new room-mate was a heavy sleeper.

I closed the door and fished around for the light switch.

_Come on, come on, you've got to be here somewhere._

I heaved a sigh of relief when I felt the cool plastic casing of the light switch.

"Who puts a light switch so far from the door?" I mumbled to myself as I flicked on the switch and cringed as the light burnt my eyes.

"I've been meaning to talk to the maintenance man about that switch"

I screamed at the unfamiliar voice that had come out of nowhere. I opened my eyes and found myself looking at a very small person standing directly in front of me, she reminded me of my next door neighbors daughter, of course only about 18 years older.

"God, you scarred the crap out of me!" I half yelled while laughing.

"Sorry about that, I was about to turn the lights on but then you came in so well…I didn't," she smiled.

"My name is Alice, and you must be Isabella."

"Call me Bella. Nice to meet you," I said, putting out my hand for her to shake. She pulled me into a tight hug instead. I laughed as she let go of me and smiled. I looked around for somewhere to hang my coat before taking it off. I found an unused coat rack and decided that I would put my scarf, hat and jacket up there until I had a chance to unpack.

As I was taking my jacket off to place on the coat rack I felt like someone was looking at me. I turned my head to look at Alice and found her looking me up and down with a huge smile on her face. Not two moments later was a huge squeal reverberating around the room and she was jumping up and down clapping her hands.

"YAY!" she screamed. "You have some form of fashion sense," I laughed and she resumed her jumping.

"I wouldn't go that far. My friend back home dressed me for the flight. I'm actually kind of terrible at dressing myself." I smiled sheepishly.

She frowned a little, but then her face became alight again. "That's fine. Now I'll just have to help you," she said and I groaned.

About 20 seconds later there was a massive bang at the door and a scream that came from the same direction. I looked towards the door to find a tall blonde sprawled out along the floor on top of my bags, huffing a trying to find her way up.

"For God's sake! Why are there bags at the door? And why the fuck is there so much screaming? Please, for the sake of my hearing, tone it down a couple of decibels."

I looked towards Alice and found her scowling at the spot where the blonde had just fallen.

"Bella, Rosalie, Rosalie, Bella," Alice said introducing me to the blonde.

"Bella, Rosalie lives in 7C across the hall, Rosalie; this is my new room-mate."

"It's a pleasure to meet you" I said holding out my hand towards her.

"Mmm, wish I could say the same," she retorted as she glared at my outstretched hand. "Just keep the sound down would you? I have the early shoot tomorrow, and I CANNOT be late again. Goodnight," she said and she slammed the door on her way out.

"Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out," Alice mumbled, and I cracked up laughing

Pretty soon she was too. "Well, I should probably show you where your room is huh?"

I nodded eagerly and followed her straight through the living room and to a door almost completely opposite the entrance.

"So… Rosalie, she's gorgeous," I stated, trying to make conversation and looking at my feet again.

Alice stood in front of the door that was right in front of us. (I had left my bags at the door because I had wanted to have a look around first). She opened the door to a good sized room, there was an old double bed mattress up against the wall waiting for it to be put on a bad frame and also waiting for some sheets. There was also a red rug lying on top of the beautiful mahogany floorboards.

"I guess I'm going to need to do some furniture shopping then huh?" I mumbled to myself, but to my surprise Alice heard me and started squealing again.

"Please, Alice, is that entirely necessary?"

"Sorry." She grinned. "I'm just really excited."

I just laughed, nodding my head. On the opposite side of the room I saw that there was a window with curtains pulled over them stopping the flow of any kind of light coming into the room, whether it was just the city lights or not. I walked across the room and opened the curtains, amazed to see that there was a balcony outside. It needed a really good scrub and the windows were filthy, but, other than that, it looked amazing.

_Note to self: spend tomorrow cleaning, shop the day after._

"This is amazing; don't you ever go out there?" I asked, turning around to face Alice.

"No, I don't. I don't have time. I'm an intern at a fashion boutique working to get my own line up and running. I'm going to be famous you know, making gowns for the red carpet one day. Just you wait and see," she said very seriously.

"Oh I don't doubt it," I said slightly scared that if I didn't agree she might take a pair of material sheers to my throat. I wasn't trying to be mean, really, I wasn't, but I know how lucky I was to get here and I had to work so hard to achieve that, I was lucky, some people might not be so much, and I have to be realistic.

I turned towards the opposite wall and saw a door. "What's in there?" I asked, pointing towards it.

Alice smiled a large smile and motioned me over towards said door. "In here, Miss Swan is my pride and joy, and I am going to share it with you. This room is not for the faint of heart, this is…" she opened the door and pulled me in, covering my eyes as she did so, "... the closet."

I opened my eyes and set them upon the room in front of me. It was very big, strike that, it was huge and Alice had utilized every single bit of space in there. The right half of the room was full of clothing, and organized impeccably. It went: color, then type, alphabetically. Cardigans, jackets, jeans, shirts, shorts, skirts, t-shirts and then vests.

In the centre of the room were a massive island and a rack entirely dedicated to shoes? They were all in their boxes, but the boxes had photos on the side clearly showing the shoe on Alice's foot. And then they were in color order and then height order, in length of the heel, up to 6" heels.

"Wow Alice, this is really... impressive."

_And a little bit scary._

"Thanks." She smiled. She then took hold of my shoulders and faced me towards the wall that backed my room. "And that's your half."

My half was the same size as Alice's but completely empty save for a bunch of coat hangers waiting for me to hang up my clothing.

"This really is amazing Alice. You didn't have to give me half; that was really nice of you," I said and smiled at my new friend.

"Well hey, can you blame me? This is New York. I didn't know if you were going to be some Australian wannabe famous, stuck up snob that was going to demand half the closet, so I just halved it. Besides, it is rightfully yours; I did get a friend of mine to take a little bit of your room to make it big enough so it's the least I could do." She grinned sheepishly"

"ALICE!" I laughed.

I was looking around the room again thinking about how great life was right now and I had only been in America for an hour, when I heard Alice take a big yawn.

"Oh geez I'm sorry, I'm keeping you up; you should go to bed… I'll be fine, I'm wide awake right now," I said ushering her towards the other door which no doubt, led to her room.

"No, really Bella it's fine, I'm fine; it's your first night here."

"Alice, please, I'll be fine," I said, pushing her a little bit more. When she looked like she was going to protest again, I jumped in before she had the chance. "Alight, Alice I'll make you a deal. Seeing as you seem to love clothes so much," I said a little sarcastically. "That must mean that you like shopping, right?" I asked, waiting for her response. She grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright then, do you have to work tomorrow?" She nodded again, but this time with much less enthusiasm.

"How about this? I don't have to go to the offices until Monday because I came a little early, so why don't we go scour the town when you get back from work tomorrow? I need clothes, and lots of them." I could see her smile growing a little bit more as she came to realize about what I was trying to offer her. She started bouncing a little bit more with every word I said, and when I had finished....

"DEAL!" she squealed.

"Alright then, go to bed," I said, laughing.

"Good night Bella," she said as she gave me a hug.

"Goodnight Alice…but remember, this is a one time offer, never again will I do this NEVER." I could hear tinkling laugh in the other room and had a little chuckle to myself as well.

It was a strange moment then. Something in that hug told me that Alice was not as content as she made out to be. Something about said that she was lonely and it had me wondering the whole night whether she actually had any friends here in New York.

Once Alice had gone into her room and I heard her shut her light off, I contemplated what I was going to do next. I decided that I would probably have a little look around the apartment.

I stepped outside the closet into my bedroom. And cast a glance around the room again. There was no doubt that this was an amazing apartment; I had been so lucky in the deal and the price that I got. And the room-mate.

As I was thinking about all the things that I would need to get from the store the next day I walked into the main living area and had a really good look. That's when it occurred to me. Everything in that room was completely perfect; it was obsessive compulsive just like the closet.

That was good; now at least I won't have to have a go at her when she doesn't keep something neat.

I myself had been known to be a little finicky when it comes to cleanliness; others had have called it obsessive compulsive, but I just called it clean.

But seeing the apartment in this state was a settling realization for me. I would have been lying if I told you that I wasn't worried that Alice was going to be as messy as her personality was loud. But now I had peace of mind.

I chuckled to myself as I thought about everything that could be done in my bedroom. It had nothing save for the old rug which I could assure you would be going the first chance that I had. I was glad that I had Alice. Judging by a quick glance around the apartment, she knew what she was doing decoration wise.

_And she could go crazy at the shopping centre with me the next day._

I walked into the kitchen. It was a small room with benches on 75% of the wall space. The wall that was next to the entrance had a little window section above the counter top so that you could see through to the door, but keep the space enclosed.

The last part of the bench came out onto the carpet, not backed by any wall either. That way you could look out of the kitchen into the dining room and see the dining room table. Opposite the dining room lay the living area. An expensive flat screen television sat on a beautiful mahogany buffet. There was a gorgeous dark brown coffee table that sat in the middle, all surrounded by two divine looking white leather couches*.

The bathroom was just like the rest of the apartment. There was a bath, toilet and a sink with a vanity, but the best of the best, and in the most exquisite fashion.

I was looking around the amazingly neat apartment and thinking about how much rent this was costing me per week when something else struck me.

Alice had been living here on her own for about 3 years, from what I could gather. This was not a cheap apartment, and those were definitely not cheap clothes in that amazing closet...neither was any of this amazing furniture. And just looking at the architraves along the walls, I could see that they were beautifully crafted. This was no small thing…this was a stylishly decked out apartment. Alice quite obviously had money.

I don't know if I felt comforted by the fact that I had figured a little something out about Alice or not… but never the less I was as happy as ever right then.

**Okay so i am insanely excited to be posting this, i have been working with the lovely Stephaniiie and LyricalKris to get this perfect for y'all to last little star asterisk thingy was actually a floor plan other than white leather couches, dont forget to go have a squizz at my website.**

**Let me know what you guys think about the chapter, things you want to happen blah blah blah, i have an ultimate plan for this story but its not a chapter by chapter plan, i just know how i want it to finish, etc... so if you have any little situations that you want to happen let me know... i like writing fluff XD **

**Okay this is where i get off topic: have any of you ready the Evernight series? because i just finished hourglass and (dont worry no spoilers) i reallllly want someone to talk about it with... gimme a buzz....**

**um in other news... the people who are here because you have read something else of mine... KMAISY is on hold... the damn thing is doing my head in and i need time... i know it already takes me ages to update, but give me some time and ill come back with lots of chapters on the ready.**

**ummm... anyone read the strange angles novels? brilliant... I'm currently reading Betrayals, not very far yet though, so please... no spoilers.**

**as you may have noticed... i use a lot of little dottie things (... ---them) so you know, dont get annoyed with them, its a personality fault. OMG im watching true blood season 2... anyone seen it? i wanna talk to you too. **

**if it seems like im sitting here just thinking of random things to write about in this authors note, i have two things to say to you...**

**1: i am**

**2: thats only because im bored, dont want to do my lit homework and well... my friends dont want to talk to me.**

**i had something else to say, but i completey forgot what it was.... OH I REMEMBER!! did you see the little review button? its got a different little bubble thing on it, it looks weird. but cool... i wonder what it does... maybe you guys could tell me... in a review... hmmm? **

**one more thing... i wanna ask you guys a question each chapter because i have found that with a compelling question on the end of a story... it makes you want to press the little blue and yello button below... so here it is... and goodbye**

Pick one to MARRY, one to LICK WHIPPED CREAM OFF OF, one to KILL, and one to... MAKE DINNER FOR (random i know, but I'm in the middle of making spaghetti so its on my mind XD)

-Emmett  
-Jacob  
-Mike  
-Jasper

**My Choices (just you can learn a little more about me XD): **

**Marry:** Jasper**  
Lick whipped cream off of: **Emmett **  
Kill: **Jacob**  
Make dinner for: **Mike

**what are yours?  
**


	2. Wish right now

***URGENT MUST READ***

_So well it's not really that urgent, but I would really like you to read this, because I know that many people don't read authors notes. I was thinking maybe every now and then, probably Thursdays, I might post either a spoiler or a little something something for y'all to quench your thirst on while you wait for the beloved Monday chapter. _

_This Mini chapter will not be long, no more than 1000 words, but it will always be insightful, and I will probably make them in 3__rd__ person perhaps, im not sure yet… but the first one will start this Thursday. Im not sure what it will be about yet…. Why don't y'all send me a review on what y'all think it should be about hmm? I can set them in the future of in the past, they could be little snapshots of Bella and or Edward, or someone else's past and or future…and I have just decided that they might not be relevant to the plot at all, just a little back ground info on the characters. Even you know something to make you laugh… I have no idea._

_As I write this I realize that these are going to become more and more irrelevant to the flow of the story, because as many of you know, I am fluff inept, I can't just write something about nothing… im a sucker for the drama, so these with your doses of fluff. _

_Im going to go and write the first one right now I think, because im excited_

_PS im telling you to read this because I don't want you to open the first one and be like "this persons lost her mind, this doesn't even connect with the last chapter. _

_Anyways… Enjoy_

**Chapter song:**Airplanes- B.o.B ft Hayley Williams – Everyone NEEDS to listen to this song like… now… it's amazing

**Chapter 2: ****  
****BPOV**

"Are you sure you're going to be okay on your own Bella?" Alice asked for the tenth time that morning.

"Alice! I'm going to be fine, really. Go or you're going to be late."

"Alright, but don't hesitate to call me, for anything," she said, looking me deeply in my eye, almost as if she were looking through to my soul.

"Sure, Alice I'll call." I shoved her out the door with a final wave and goodbye, and set to work.

I had a lot to do that day and all of it involved some form of cleaning. First was my bedroom. I proceeded into the dusty and extremely empty room and flung open the curtains, wincing slightly as the brightness from the sun was more than I had expected.

From there I went and removed the old sheets that Alice had kindly put on my mattress not 8 hours earlier, probably thinking that I might actually sleep. She'd obviously never had jet lag like this before.

I decided that the best way to start the day would be stock up the cupboards and the fridge. It was the least I could do. So I went and changed into something a little bit warmer and more appropriate for the cold New York winter. Decked out in my best thermals, black tracksuit pants, three jumpers, my purple scarf and a bright green beanie. I skipped down the seven flights of stairs.

As I passed the security booth, the nicer less -for lack of a better word- 'fat' man noticed me and smiled.

"Morning, Miss Swan," he said with a wave.

"Good morning…" I trailed off.

"William," he smiled.

"Good morning, William, have a nice day now you two." And with a final wave I continued my brisk walk out of the building and down the street looking for the first supermarket that I could come across.

While at the supermarket I took the liberty to let my thoughts drift a little. I thought about the people at home. I thought about what dad might be doing right at this moment. He was probably stretched out on the couch watching either the AFL or the cricket. Angela? She was probably pouring over some old architecture books. That or having dinner with Ben, her fiancé.

They were the only people that I even cared to associate myself with in Australia. All the other people my age would probably be on their way to some kind of party to dance like sluts and rub themselves all over people. That never was my scene.

As I continued to walk down the aisles at the shop I grabbed things from each shelf, deciding what we needed in the apartment and what we needed more of.

_Dishwasher tablets, pasta, fruit, oh look a funky little egg whisk with a little man of the end…. Alice might like that._

Just as I was wondering how I was going to get it all back to the apartment and up the problem steps, something shot out and surprised me. … Granny Trolley!

In the corner of my eye, down the hardware aisle, I saw the perfect thing. Maybe not for the stairs, but they could be managed. There was a little trolley for sale. The trolley had four parallel wheels lining the bottom of what looks like a cage, topping no more than a meter high. They were all the rage for the oldies in Australia.

I got so excited that I literally ran to the section where they were being stocked and threw the metal framework in the trolley.

_I guess I will have to assemble that outside._

I grinned from ear to ear, thinking about how this was going to make everything so much easier since I didn't have a car.

***

"Isabella Swan, what in Jimmy Choo's name is that?" Alice said pointing to the granny trolley that I had bought earlier that day to bring home the shopping. It had actually worked really well, and wasn't as hard to pull up the seven flights of stair as I had anticipated.

"That, my dear, is a granny trolley," I replied giving her my best 'Aussie in the sun' smile that I could from my place on the couch.

"Yes, Bella I see that, but what is it doing in my apartment?"

I turned my head to look straight at her and raised my eyebrow.

"Our apartment," she grinned sheepishly.

I laughed at her humorous personality while thinking that this life was just too good to be true. How everything could be going so right, while consciously thinking about how funny everyone's accents were.

There was an American girl at school, and her accent always took us a while to get used to, because it was so different from how we were used to hearing people talk. We would try and imitate her, to see if we could do it right, claiming that we were trying to make her feel more at home. She knew we were just trying to have a little fun. But this was different, because here I was the person that spoke in a funny voice; I was the odd one out.

"So Bella, I get that that this is _our_ apartment, and I understand it's a granny trolley, but what is it doing in here?"

"Well Alice, if you must know… I went shopping today and had no idea how I was going to get everything home so I decided to buy said granny trolley, and it was a great help. Now my turn. Why are you home so early? I thought you said that you would be back at five," I asked.

"I am home at three o'clock just for you missy, because, like you said, we are going shopping." The look on my face must have given away my disgust at the thought.

"Alice I've been out all day, cant we go tomorrow?" I complained.

"No way, we are going tonight, You promised."

"Alright, get changed…. Let's go." And ten minutes later, we headed out the door.

.

***

Four hours later, we both stumbled into the apartment, arms loaded with bags and laughing as we thought of the afternoon's activities.

I struggled to my room and dropped all my bags on the empty floor. I had not only bought some much needed clothing today, but I also bought a bedroom set which was being delivered tomorrow.

"Alice I think my arms are about to fall off," I laughed.

"Me too." I heard Alice say from the general direction of the couch in the living room.

I decided to get up and make something in the kitchen to eat. I had put away all the shopping from that morning, and I was craving soup.

"Do you want some soup, Alice?" I called out as I was in the kitchen pulling ingredients out left, right and centre.

"What kind? I don't like pea and ham… it's just this funky taste that doesn't do it for me," she giggled.

"Potato and Leek," I replied. I was not a fan of pea and ham soup either. I used to love the stuff from the can, but when my mum tried to surprise me by making me some homemade, it put me off the soup for life.

"I LOVE potato and leek soup, " she cried out, and the next thing I saw was this flash of black hair as she ran into the kitchen so that she could watch what I was doing.

An hour later we were both sitting down on the sofa with a big bowl of soup each and the television remote.

"What do you want to watch?" Alice asked me, cupping the remote in her hand and flicking through channels, waiting for me to give her a hint on the final destination.

"I don't really know, I haven't even been in America for 24 hours, I couldn't possibly know what was on TV." I laughed, and she joined in, nodding her head as she realized her mistake.

She ended up settling for the movie Step Up 2 which we continued to watch as we finished our soup.

That night I actually slept. Being up for twenty-four hours had killed me, and I would have to wake up early tomorrow.

EPOV

_A 33-year-old Brooklyn man was arrested on Sunday and charged with murdering his companion's 22-month-old daughter, the police said. The city medical examiner's office said she had been beaten to death._

_The man, William Johnson of Olive Avenue, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of the toddler, Sarah Johnson, who was found in her mother's apartment at 820 Orange Avenue in Brooklyn on Saturday, the police said._

_The girl had blunt impact injuries on her body and cuts to several internal organs, according to a spokeswoman for the city's medical examiner._

_Mr. Johnson told investigators that he had fallen asleep next to the girl and woke to find her unresponsive, the police said._

_The police said that Mr. Johnson was charged because he was alone with the child when she was found to be unresponsive. They said they did not know what might have provoked him. Sarah's__ grandmoth__er, who also lives in the Orange Avenue apartment, called 911 around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, and the girl was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center about an hour later._

_Chris Moyer, 29, who arrived at the building on Sunday afternoon, said that he had known the mother, Brittany Carter, 28, since elementary school and that Sarah's__ father was "not in the picture."_

_Mr. Moyer said Ms. Carter was unemployed was looking for a job and planned to go back to high school. She had a "back and forth" relationship with Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Johnson often cared for the child at the apartment, Mr. Moyer said._

"_He is a good person," Mr. Moyer said. "He took care of her like it was his daughter. All the people in that house are good people. I don't think they hurt that baby."_

_Around 1 p.m. on Sunday, Ms. Carter and two others got out of a delivery cab outside her building._

"_She was my baby. I'm sorry I can't talk to you," said Ms. Carter, who was crying as she entered the building._

_Several hours later, she entered__the 43rd Precinct station house__to meet with police officers; she did not speak with reporters._

_Shirley Osei, 70, a retired nurse who lives in the same building, said Sarah was "very cute."_

"_She was a beautiful child," Ms. Osei said, "a very petite baby."_

_Another neighbor, Dora Osei, 38, a housekeeper who is not related to Shirley Osei, said she often shook the baby's hand when she saw her with Ms. Carter. She said she was sad to hear of Sarah's death._

"_She likes the baby," Ms. Osei said, referring to Ms. Carter. "I know she likes the baby. She loves the baby and the grandmother loves the baby, too."_

"_That woman was so happy to have a grandchild," she said. "So happy."_

_Sharman Stein, a spokeswoman for the Administration for Children's Services__, the city's child welfare agency, said the agency was investigating the case but declined to comment further._

"Jesus Christ," I whispered.

Cases that involved the death of a child were always increasingly difficult for me. I couldn't handle the thought of a young life been taken before its time. It got me deep in the chest.

I placed the newspaper on the seat beside me and took a deep breath as we rounded the corner onto Wall Street.

I was in the car on the way to the office; I knew that today would be a big day. I had new interns starting today, and a new case coming in, I had no idea what it was, but I had a feeling that it was going to be a difficult case that was going to test me in every way possible.

George, my driver, pulled up in front of the building and I hopped out.

"Thanks, George, I'll be done here around 6:30" I said leaning through the window of the passenger seat.

"Yes, Mr. Cullen, see you then." And he drove away. Today would be like every other day… just another day at the office.

BPOV

Monday Morning

_Keys? Check.  
_

_Wallet? Check.  
_

_Diary? Check._

_Everything else Alice insisted I bring? Check, check, check, check. _

As I was on my way out of the apartment, I looked in the mirror to the right of the door and smiled. Alice had got me up at some ridiculous time in the morning so that she could fluff and play and pick the "perfect" outfit for my first day. I was in a beautiful black flowing skirt that skimmed just the top of my knees and knee-high boots with a 3" heel. I was also wearing a tight fitted white shirt and a long sleeved, teal, cashmere vest. The outfit was topped off with a long, polar, fleece jacket that reached the same length the skirt did.

I smiled to myself and placed the cream colored stylish beanie on my head, along with a matching cashmere scarf around my neck and headed out the door.

Waving good-bye to Billy and Mack, whose name I had learned the day before when Alice had dragged me out to do some more last minute shopping, and hopped into the taxi that was waiting for me curbside.

"365 Wall Street please," I said the driver.

"Wall Street? Are you sure about that? That's the business sector of the city miss."

"Yes I'm sure. I have an internship at Cullen International Law Firm, and I'm late… so please," I said motioning towards the road indicating that I wanted him to leave already.

"Yes, ma'am," He said, and we left.

Twenty-five minutes later, the taxi pulled up in front of a very large building, and I got out.

"That will be $42.90." I gawked at him.

"Are you serious? That's a lot of money."

"Hey ma'am, this is a business. Am I going to have to call the cops?" he threatened; I could see his shoulders tensing and his eyebrows narrowing.

"No, that's fine… here you go" I handed him the exact change and watched him speed away into the traffic before I could club him with my purse for having such a ridiculous fare.

I stopped watching the offending taxi and turned around. Brushing the loose hair out of my face, I looked up and assessed the size of the building that stood in front of me.

_I will be working in that for the next year. _

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and decided it was time to face the music; the thrilling, exciting, but oh so terrifying music.

***

"Hi, my name is Isabella Swan. I'm an intern here. Today is my first day?" I was standing at a very large mahogany reception desk placed in the middle of a huge green marble floor, surrounded by intimidating, wood paneled walls and talking to a platinum blonde woman with big boobs, though they were sufficiently hidden, much to my surprise.

The building was amazingly business like, but still very classy and sophisticated. I instantly felt out of place.

"Yes, Mr. McCarty has been expecting you. Take the elevator to the sixteenth floor and head straight ahead... Johanna at the desk will direct you where to go from there." I gave her a small nod and headed for the elevator.

The elevator music was just as bad as it was in Australia, but this elevator held one key difference to any that I had been in. The American elevator was fancier than anything I'd seen back home.

It was decorated in the same way as the foyer: dark green, marble flooring and wood paneled walls. But I felt like I was going to break something, or that my heels would put a crack in the marble if I stepped too hard. Or worse, fell on it.

When the doors dinged open I was met with a very different scene. The floor that I had walked onto was not as fancy as the foyer or the elevator, but it had the same color scheme. The carpet was a dark, emerald green with little flecks of moss green and blue. The outer walls and dividers were made of the same wood paneling.

This floor held more warmth as a working space than the foyer but that was probably because it was designed to look inviting to people coming to see their lawyers.

I walked up to the receptionist desk that was a much smaller and messier imitation from the one down stairs,.

"Um, Isabella Swan? I'm here to see Mr. McCarty?" I said to the receptionist. She was a small girl, didn't look much shorter than me, and she had dark brown hair just past her shoulders. Her eyes were covered in thick black frames and hidden some more by black eye makeup which made her deep set eyes look small and squinty.

"Yes, down the left corridor and the third door on the left." She indicated for me to go through a gap in the paneled wall to the left of her desk.

"Thank you." I headed in the direction she had pointed.

When I walked through the gap in the wall I saw a large corridor lined with the same design scheme as the one out near the reception desk - green carpet and paneled walls. Each wall was littered with doors and frosted glass windows, I read the names on the doors as I walked past each one.

_George Humphries _

_Peter Forester_

_Leanne Cooke_

_Paul Peterson_

_Robert Shimko_

_Joshua Farro_

I assumed that the two gaps in the wall on either side of the receptionist desk were just entrances to either side of this maze.

I walked along the corridor till I found the third door on my left. When I arrived at the door I saw that it was a brown wood door in the same style paneling as the style covering the walls. The door also held a name tag 'Emmett McCarty'. I took that as a sign and knocked.

"Come in!" bellowed a voice from the other side. I jumped a little because the volume of it was not what I was expecting.

I peeked my head around the side of the door and said "Mr. McCarty?"

"Call me Emmett… or M-dog, or The All-Mighty M, just no god damn Emily," he grinned as he laid eyes on me and what must have looked like a very frightened girl peering through his door. "You must be Isabella Swan."

"Well, you can call me Bella," I said, smirking at the large form clad in a dark grey/blue business suit pants, a white shirt, and rainbow suspenders. I could see his jacket hanging on an old style, wooden coat rack in the corner by the window. I smiled to myself. He was an eccentric.

Just like Alice.

"So, Bella, judging by that accent you are the one that I am supposed to be looking after from the land down under?" he grinned at me.

"Sure am." I smiled back.

"Great!" he said, leaping out of his swivel office chair and grabbing his jacket from the rack. "We are going to go on a little tour, and I am going to show you what's what, and what's where. Let's go."

And with that, we made our way back through the paneled corridor and out into the reception area, towards the elevator. As we passed the reception desk I saw Emmett wink at the young woman there, and just as the door started to close she scowled at him before going back to doing what she had been before.

As the elevator started its decent, I looked to Emmett just as he looked to me and I laughed. "She doesn't seem to like you much does she?"

"Are you kidding? Everyone wants a bit of the Em Meister." I laughed as he flexed his abnormally large muscles and grinned.

"So, Bella, what brings you to the good ol' N Y of C?" he asked.

"This internship actually. I applied at my university back in Melbourne and I got a call from some lady in human resources saying that I was being considered for the spot. I had to send in a video of myself, and I had a phone interview, 2 months later here I am." I said as I indicated to myself and the ground in which we were standing on, or rather, marble flooring.

"Interesting," he contemplated, while lifting one eyebrow and resting his chin on his thumb and index finger and looking at me.

"You didn't know this already?" I asked suspiciously. As my boss I figured he should already know this.

"Well no, because im not really your boss, just your supervisor, the big man upstairs, is boss man, you answer to me…I answer to him." I nodded comprehending what he had said. It made sense…kind of.

"And you? How did you find yourself here in New York? Or were you born here?" I asked, genuinely interested in this random man beside me.

"Oh, me? Well I grew up in Jersey and then I went to law school and now I'm here," he said as he grinned at me, knowing full well that that was nowhere near enough detail.

"I was studying to be a primary school teacher, but when my dad had a forklift drop its load on top of him and then he lost the case against the company, I vowed that I would never let that happen again, and here I am." he copied my by pointing to the ground which we were now walking on.

"Where are we?" I asked after we had been walked down a long white corridor for a while. This floor was nothing like any of the others. The floors were concrete and the walls were flat white, no emotion and color.

"We are on our way to the mail room because you will most likely spend the majority of your time running up and down here to collect mail and deliver it. After a few weeks of that you can be promoted to coffee fetcher, and them after a couple of months of that you might be able to listen in on a case or two," he said as he looked at me and tried to read the emotion in my face.

"I know it sucks right now but, trust me, it will be worth it. Just push through."

And with that we sunk deeper into the underground, and I got to see my very first American mail room.

***

"Alright Bella, it appears to be, 11 o'clock. I have been ordered to direct you to the 32nd floor to meet Mr. Cullen himself." Emmett grinned at me as we left IT on the fourth floor. I'd met the resident internet guru, Eric and we had a good talk with him. And now? Well now it looks like I was about to find out _exactly_ what I would be doing for the next year.

As we entered the all too familiar elevator and pressed the 32nd floor button, I noticed that it was not the top floor.

"What's on 33 and 34?" I asked, unconsciously pointing towards the buttons I was talking about.

"They are where you will spend most of your time. Mr. Cullen keeps the old files above his office because, that way, he can determine who goes up there. You have to get out of this elevator and into another one to go the rest of the way. He super tight about the security of those files. I assume that's what you're going to be talking to him about now… I did." I nodded my head thinking about why he would be so adamant on the top security for those files. Maybe he's just really security conscious?

When we arrived on the 32nd floor we walked out into a foyer that was reasonably similar to the one on Emmett's floor, except that this one had two desks on either side of one door rather than gaps in the wall.

The first desk had no one at it and it was impeccably clean and coordinated, clearly the work of a pedantic narcissistic woman in need of some serious help, or so I assumed.

The second desk however was manned by a sour looking brunette with perfect features and figure to die for.

"Jessica, this is Isabella Swan. I was told to bring her here at 11. Here she is." He grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me forward so that I stumbled in my boots and landed face first on the floor.

"Holy Shit! Bella, I'm so sorry!" Emmett said, running up to me apologizing.

"It's aright Emmett really. I fall all the time and I'm used to it," I said smiling up at him.

"Okay, if you say so Bella." I nodded and got back to my feet.

I looked up and saw that Jessica was smirking at me. "Mr. Cullen will see you now," she said and she moved back to examining her nails to make sure that my fall didn't stress them out too much or something.

I walked towards the two large mahogany doors that I presumed were Mr. Cullen's office, and grasped the brass handle.

Here we go.

EPOV

I was looking over the notes from my most recent case when I heard a small knock on the door and the turning of the brass handle. I looked up to see a short woman no more than four years younger than me enter the room.

"Ahhh, you must be Miss Swan. Please sit," I said. I had to be formal with my employees, especially the young ones, because otherwise they lost respect. Then they tried to push the boundaries and I would have to throw them out on the street, something I really didn't want to have to do. It was better to lay the ground rules from the get go.

I indicated for her to sit at a small couch located in front of my desk so that we could begin.

"So, Miss Swan, what made you want to apply for an internship here at Cullen International Law Firm?"

"Well, I actually heard about the international internships going at my university and spoke to my lecturer about it, he set up for the opportunity essentially." She looked nervous, as if her response didn't suffice, and if I were a self absorbed, bogus, uppity I might have been dissatisfied, but I knew what it was like to be new somewhere.

"Had you heard of C.I.L.F before you were told about the internships?"

"No, I had not. Though, after I had, I did some research, and found that not only is your companies' acronym crude, but it's not very accurate as you are not very well known overseas at all." She said it all so innocently that I couldn't be annoyed, but the words that came from her mouth may have gotten her sent back across the ocean if it were any other company.

"Well, yes Miss Swan this is true. Our base overseas is still growing, but the prearranged name was easier to have when not international than to have to change when you are."

"But you could have just chosen something that worked both ways, therefore eliminating the problem all together." I didn't know why she was fighting this, but she had guts. I think she knew that if she wasn't already fired then it was a miracle and if she was then she could just keep talking anyway.

"Indeed, Miss Swan, you will make a fine lawyer one day. That is all. I will have my assistant Tyler come and get you when you are to be shown to the filing room, in there you will be given directions as to how you are to proceed in organizing the past files."

"Thank you Mr. Cullen." And with that she exited my office.

_What a peculiar girl. Sexy accent, in a strange land down under kind of way…_

BPOV

I had no idea what had come over me in there. It was like I couldn't keep quiet. I couldn't keep my opinion to myself. It was true, I had found that stuff on the Internet. But, Jesus Christ, I had a sneaking suspicion that I was about to lose my internship.

"What's wrong Bella?" Emmett asked when I walked into his office.

While we were out taking a tour, he had some people take a desk and a chair in there for me. The same time I noticed the desk, was when he told me that there would be a package arriving for me tomorrow morning in the company's name, but I had yet to find out what was in it. Emmett refused to tell me… he wanted me to be 'surprised'.

"I think I just royally screwed up on my first day as an intern," I said.

"Why? What did you do? It can't really be that bad."

"I essentially accused Mr. Cullen of being a fraud and a fake."

"Yes, well that's probably not the best way to start out the day, don't you think?" he said while trying to cover his smirk. "Hey, don't worry about it. He won't really care. He's probably laughing to himself up there right now. He's pretty laid back like that… but don't tell anyone I said that alright?"

I laughed to myself and just nodded, secretly knowing that I had royally screwed up, and that no matter how much I wished that Emmett was right, there wasn't really much of a possibility. I had a feeling I would be going home to pack my bags tonight.

"Hey, Bella, why don't you go on down to lunch? Tyler probably won't call on you until about two, so you have at least two hours. Go get some lunch. This could be the one time that you actually get time like this to do it. Take advantage of it."

"Thanks, Emmett, I might just do that." With that, I grabbed my jacket, beanie and scarf and headed out of the office in search of the closest café.

As I was walking down one of the surprisingly populated side streets, I found myself amazed at just how many people they had crammed into such a small area. There were people everywhere and it was only 12 o'clock.

I continued down the street till I decided to just settle for a Starbucks coffee. I had never had one, but everyone had heard about them. There were only ever a few stores in Australia, but after the global economic crisis they got wiped out. Now the Starbucks population throughout Aus was a mere 1 shop.

I went in there and walked up to the counter, assessing what it was that I was interested in.

"How may I help you?" a bored tone asked me as I examined the menu board above the cash register.

"I think I'll just have a cappuccino, thanks," I smiled at the employee.

"What size would you like?" I pondered that for a moment, I wasn't sure as to what the sizes were so I took a default term and just went with a regular.

"Would you like whipped cream with that?" oh geez, how hard was it to just get a coffee in this country?

"No thank you."

He was a tall man, about six foot, and had the most amazing blue eyes. They were like the ocean; they just drew you in, and, if you weren't careful, you could lose yourself. His hair was golden and short enough to look stylish, but long enough to make you think that he just couldn't be bothered cutting it.

"That will be $4.70, thanks." I nodded as I paid and continued to examine him.

His shirt was not overly loose so I could see a small amount of definition in his muscles, but the black polo shirt strained around his biceps, making their size predominantly more pronounced.

"Ma'am… your coffee." I snapped out of my childish staring and nodded a thank you.

"Bella…" I mumbled.

"Hmm?" he asked turning back around to face me.

"My name… Bella" I said smiling. I wasn't normally one to tell random coffee shop workers what my name was, but there was something about this man that made me feel at ease.

"Well, Bella, I hope to see you around," he winked and I blushed, nodding, I took a seat at the window.

_What do you know… you meet new, wonderful, gorgeous people every day? _

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE READ THE NOTE AT THE TOP, and if you didn't here it is again

-***URGENT MUST READ***

_So well it's not really that urgent, but I would really like you to read this, because I know that many people don't read authors notes. I was thinking maybe every now and then, probably Thursdays, I might post either a spoiler or a little something something for y'all to quench your thirst on while you wait for the beloved Monday chapter. _

_This Mini chapter will not be long, no more than 1000 words, but it will always be insightful, and I will probably make them in 3__rd__ person perhaps, im not sure yet… but the first one will start this Thursday. Im not sure what it will be about yet…. Why don't y'all send me a review on what y'all think it should be about hmm? I can set them in the future of in the past, they could be little snapshots of Bella and or Edward, or someone else's past and or future…and I have just decided that they might not be relevant to the plot at all, just a little back ground info on the characters. Even you know something to make you laugh… I have no idea._

_As I write this I realize that these are going to become more and more irrelevant to the flow of the story, because as many of you know, I am fluff inept, I can't just write something about nothing… im a sucker for the drama, so these with your doses of fluff. _

_Im going to go and write the first one right now I think, because im excited_

_PS im telling you to read this because I don't want you to open the first one and be like "this persons lost her mind, this doesn't even connect with the last chapter. _

**ANYWAY**

**This chapter didn't flow nearly as well as I wanted it to, but I have tried my best, I was going to wait longer and see if I could get it better, improve the flow etc, but due to much pestering by my friends and fellow FF readers and writers, I am posting now… **

**as you may have guessed, I am going to be posting on Mondays, because that gives me the weekend to get the chapter and any last minute writing done before I have to post. **

**I will ALWAYS write something to put up… hopefully it will be a full chapter but sometimes it might be something else im not sure, all im saying is that I will always have something to post on a Monday for y'all.**

**Okay I was thinking, this story I was only planning to last about 20-25 chapters at the most, because the plot is fairly thick, but my chapters are decent, and im no good at writing fluff. **

**Want to know something amazing my beautiful readers? I had to write this chapter 4 times, it took me 4 goes to get this chapter right. This story is like one massive mind fuck just waiting to happen. **

**I was writing along the first time on the bus, and two of my good friends Natalie and Emma will be able to verify this, but I was typing on the bus and I had this great idea, I shouter BRAINWAVE! And started type furiously, starting the whole document again. I remember Emma just looking at me thinking that I was completely nuts.**

**so I got halfway through that chapter and had a better idea and backtracked to include half the original chapter and then halfway through that I started having ideas about exactly how I wanted to write the end so I went and wrote ¾ of chapter 12 and came back and edited this one, got it back from the editor yesterday, and I am now publishing this in my biology class, the things I do for you people… anyway. **

**I wasn't really surprised at people's choices for last week about who they would lick, kill etc. **

**But im hoping to get a little bit more variety this week… also before I write the question for this chapter, could you guys alert the friends and media etc, I want some more readers, spread the word etc, yes im that review whorish.**

**So the question!**

_**Who would you…**_

**-die for**

**-kill for**

**-Do homework for**

**-break an arm for**

**-ride a camel backwards for**

**Out of… **

**-Rosalie**

**-Victoria**

**-Bella**

**-Jasper**

**-Eric**

_**My choices…**_

**-die for** Eric (because then I would never have to see him again, and I would be a hero and maybe get a plaque and shit XD)

**-kill for **Jasper, y'all know why, I like me some sexy southern man

**-Do homework for **Victoria

**-break an arm for **Bella

**-ride a camel backwards for **Rosalie

Tell me yours..

Jess xxx


	3. MiniMoment 1 Alice's Big Break

**Mini-Moment 1-Alice's big break**

I have decided that these mini chapters will be sub plots that will work their way into the story. Enjoy… because all of these are important too XD

**Moment Song: **Let it Happen: Jimmy Eat World

**APoV**

"!" I squealed jumping up and down extremely excited.

I had just gotten off the phone with the recruitment agency at Meyer Fashion Studios and I had been accepted for the Internship there in New York.

My dreams had finally come true.

"YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!" I said running around in circles around the house, my elation building as each moment progressed.

After five minutes of screaming and jumping and running around I fall to the ground in star shape, and just lay there with a silly grin on my face. I just couldn't believe it. Moving to New York, it could only get better from here.

The moment the clock hit 6 o'clock my roommate walked in the door.

"OH MY GOODNESS VICTORIA GUESS WHAT!" I said pouncing onto her.

"Holy shit Alice! You can't be doing that, what is it? Why are you so excited?"

"Because im going to New York!" I screamed again, the excitement redeveloping inside of me and sending me on a whole other experience of hyperactive screaming.

"OH MY GOD!" Victoria screamed as well. "That's Amazing!"

And we laughed and jumped around together for a good solid hour.

After the elation had worn off and we were done screaming, we sat on the couch just talking about things, and how it would change when I moved.

"It's not going to be as fun without you, you know?" she said sadly, looking down at her lap.

" I know, it won't be as fun in New York without you either, but you know, what can we do about it? you have your dream job here, and the thought of it not working over there and you having to deal with that, moving back here with me and everything. I just think that we are better off, separating, but we will stay in contact. There is no way that I will lose you"

"You right, we will definitely stay in contact, besides it's not like I can just leave my job, im finally getting somewhere. Thanks Alice." We hugged and I wept a little tear, for the fact that I knew that keeping this friendship alive would more difficult than we could have anticipated.

"I'm going to go to bed. Night Vicky" I smiled, gave her a small hug and walked to my bedroom and passed out on the bed.

The next two weeks passed faster than I thought they could, Victoria was always so morose every time I was excited she would mope around the house, making me feel bad about being happy.

Sometimes it just made me angry because this was my dream. She should be happy for me because I am achieving something that I had wanted since I was a little girl, she knew that. We had known each other for so long that I can't even think of a time in my life where she wasn't around, so she should have been more supportive.

It hurt to think that she didn't care.

The day of my departure arrived and it proved to be a tougher time than I could have anticipated.

Victoria was not in the apartment when I woke up. She was not answering her cell phone, and she just disappeared for the whole day. I had called her all the way up to when I had to leave; I could have the taxi wait any longer.

I sighed disappointedly and got in the taxi to take me to the airport and my family, minus one crucial person.

I arrived at the airport not 30 minutes later, and was encompassed by an onslaught of family and friends all coming over to wish me well and say a teary good-bye. But there was still no Victoria.

There was the final boarding call for all flights to New York… still no Victoria.

As I boarded the plane I felt a tear run down my face at the absence of a friend. She was nowhere to be seen, and I couldn't find it in myself to care.

***** **

Two weeks had passed and I was finally settling in. I had been studying and working fruitfully at the Meyer Fashion Studios, the work was tough but oh so very rewarding. I had learnt so much in such a little time, and it was only getting better as the time went on.

But I still hadn't heard from Victoria.

It was about five days after I had been offered an official position at Meyer Fashion after my internship. They had said that I showed talent beyond anything that they could have personally handcrafted themselves. I was perfect, and I was ecstatic.

I was washing the dishes in my apartment when I heard the light tap of heels on the tile outside in the hallway. I thought to myself how many women lived on this floor and came up with none, being only the one of four other tenants on the floor.

I knew that there was a lady moving in across the hall in a week, Rosalie, I had met her the day that I moved in, because she was checking out the apartment. She wasn't very nice, I mean Im sure she could be, but she just had this vanity about her. Im pretty sure that she was a model considering I was sure that I had seen her one of my Victoria's secret magazines. Not that it mattered; she was just a bit vain.

But I knew for a fact that she wasn't moving for another week. So the source of the mysterious heels was perplexing. Two of the men on my floor were gay, they lived together and had become very friendly with me. Eric and Tyler I believe their names were. They had helped me pick my outfits for various dates on more than one occasion. And the other apartment was owned by and old widower. He was the sweetest man, Mr. Marshall. He brought me half baked cookies the day I moved in.

So I couldn't think for the life of me whole the mysterious heels belonged to, until they knocked on my door.

I walked over to the door wiping my hands on a hand towel.

I reached out and clasped the brass door handles and turned swiftly to the right, pulling the door open in a swift motion t reveal the person on the other side.

"Victoria?"

**If you have no idea of the significance of this Mini-Moment, or what a mini-moment even is, then check out chapter 2, there is an explanation at the start and the finish. **

**Please let me know what you think, because this is the start of a series of mini chapters that will occur in between my Monday updates, these will be ones that I write on the spot, the minute I have them and then posted no later, so they will not have been beta-ed by my wonderful beta's Stephaniiie and LyricalKris **

**Leave me a review containing answers to the following:**

**1 what is your favourite flavor of ice-cream**

**2 have you ever had a popcorn covered chocolate ice ream at the movies? I want to know im not alone.**

**3 Strap one, kiss one, push one down the stairs **

**Mike, Eric, Jacob**

**My choices: **Strap Eric, Push Jake down the stairs and kiss mike… ill suck one up as long as it is not for the enemy


	4. Cant Read My Poker Face

Okay people here we go, this is the edited, reviewed chapter that i had the emergency beta do, and when my ACTUAL beta gets back to me i might edit_**again**___but for the mean time enjoy this one XD

and for the people that have NO idea what i am talking about then just ignore it because im rambling on about nothing XD

Same song as unedited chapter- Poker Face Cover By You Me At Six (check it out, on YouTube XD)

The door slammed closed after me as I entered the apartment and flopped down onto the couch. To say that I was exhausted would be an understatement. I had gotten back from the cafe and Tyler was there, waiting for me in the office. He chewed me out because I had been out of the building.

Emmett had tried to stick up for me but Tyler was having none of it. He just put his hand up to stop him from speaking and then when Emmett tried to ignore him he cracked it at Emmett saying that he couldn't be showing favoritism among the new employees because it looked bad. The fact that he was getting angry at Emmett just infuriated me even more.

This Tyler prick had come in here demanding that I get to work, but they all had managed to do was shuffle me around and tell me to go see someone else to tell me about what the all important filing job was.

I was curious as to what the big deal was about. It was just a room of old files, would be easy to keep under a lock and key. But Mr. Cullen had it above his office and a whole separate elevator for it; it was quite perplexing.

I had spent the whole time in the café thinking about it. I mean seriously... if the files were that important, why let me anywhere near them. I am just a lowly intern, here to learn the dirty work of the lawyer-ing business in the 'greatest country in the world'. But I had yet to learn anything. I was completely ignorant to anything and everything that I didn't learn in University and it was getting under my skin.

Many words came to mind about how I was feeling about my new job. Infuriating was one of them.

The sound of a key turning in the apartment door alerted me and brought me back to the real world. Alice came in swinging the door wide open with a large and over done swing and danced into the living room happily.

"Well, don't you look happy?" I mumbled from my spot on the couch.

"I, my dear Bella, am the happiest of all," She announced energetically.

"And why is that Alice?" I said rolling over to face her as she sat on the other couch adjacent to mine.

"I can't tell you," she giggled.

"Mhmm"

"I'm serious Bella, I can't tell you anything about the possibility of me getting a job at Meyer Fashion when I'm done with my internship." she said giggling even more.

I sat up with a sudden movement which caused her to start laughing hysterically.

"Alice! That's amazing!"

"Shh, though, because I don't know _for sure_ but I know something's happening," and she started jumping up and down on the couch like some kind of bouncing beanie baby.

"You know what? I'm going to make you a special dinner in light of the 'I might have a very special job or I might not' situation," and with that I stood abruptly and walked into the kitchen.

"What do you feel like tonight Alice? Anything you want." I said as I scoured the cupboards for ingredients. We had practically everything, and could make nearly anything she wanted, with the exception of some things…like lobster.

"Um, I kind of feel like… pizza" she thinking to herself, with her thumb and her forefinger separated and placed on her chin, in a cliché thinking pose.

"Are you sure you don't want me to make you anything, Alice? I consider myself a pretty good cook." I said slightly offended.

"I know that, silly, that's why I want you to make me pizza…I'll help!" she said excitedly and jumped up and ran to stand in the kitchen with me.

"Okay Bells, what do we need?"

"Well, we need the flour, the salt, the milk, and the yeast," I said handing each thing to her as I read it out, and she placed it on the bench.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, pretty much, we can prepare the condiments while we wait for the dough to rise." I said pointing to the fridge where the dough would be spending an hour rising.

"Okie dokie, let's get started!" she said clapping her hands and bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

The fist twenty minutes started off fairly normal. We just stood there and I explained what to do next as we both mixed our bowls and then started pounding the mixture together.

But as we were laying the flour out on the bench to start folding it in a little bit more, all hell broke loose.

"Alice!"

"What is it Bella? Afraid of a little bit of flour?" she said evilly while shaking the offensive bag of flour in my face.

"Alice…don't." I said backing away towards the back wall being my only route of escape.

"Or. What?" she said tipping her head to the side and grinning.

Then next thing I knew, there was flour all over my face and head, and all through my hair.

"You didn't!"

"Oh, I do believe I did," she said giggling.

At that moment I picked up my own bag of flour and started making my way towards her.

"I think that it's time that you learn a little bit of a lesson Alice, about tipping flour over peoples' heads. And with that she started to run around the apartment screaming, while I ran after her, throwing little puffs of flour at her and screaming 'get back here,' and laughing the whole time.

Our laughter and messy game came to an abrupt end when Rosalie I heard a hard knock on the door and then a beautiful body just popped itself around the door.

"What in God's name are you children doing-" but before she got a chance, my foot got caught on the edge of the rug rounding the corner of the couch and I went sprawling, sending a large packet of flour flying all over Rosalie and her designer clothes.

"Oh My God!" Alice whispered, with a shocked look about her face. She almost looked frightened, but then I saw why.

I looked up to see Rosalie's face bright red and her hands clenched by her sides. I didn't know if she would actually do anything, but she looked positively terrifying.

But not a word was uttered, not a sound. Just the silent seething of the blonde flour covered beauty 5 feet from me.

Until she turned around and went back into her own apartment, slamming the door as she entered.

I looked towards Alice, and she looked towards me, and we both started laughing hysterically.

"Did you see the look on her face?" Alice said in between heaves of laughter.

"Man, I thought that she was going to punch me she was baling her fists so hard" I replied between breaths.

"I know!" Alice screamed, and then we both collapsed on the floor laughing even harder.

It was about twenty minutes, before we had both calmed down enough to get up off the floor.

And even then we were still chuckling to ourselves a little.

"God, look at this room," I said laughing.

"Let's finish the dough and get to cleaning this up," and that's what we did. We finished making the dough in record time. Before we knew it, we were attacking the carpet and rug and walls and couches with the vacuum cleaner, trying to suck up all the flour that had been spread throughout the room.

"Man, how much is there here?" Alice asked as she emptied yet another vacuum bag into the rubbish bin.

"I don't want to know," I laughed and continued to work at the couch.

Half an hour later I was pretty sure that we were done, everything looked relatively normal and flour free.

"I think were done." I said standing up and stretching my back while taking a look around the house.

"Yeah, I think your right." Alice said.

"I'm going to go change. Do you want to get the dough out of the fridge and the toppings? Then, when I get back you can change?" I asked looking down at both Alice and myself, our work clothes covered in flour and anonymous dusk particles that we dredged up while cleaning.

"Sure, don't be too long."

"No problem."

Ten minutes later I emerged from the bathroom, my hair wrapped into a towel and in a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt

"Your turn, Alice."

"Thank you!" And with that she sprinted into her bedroom and not two seconds later into the bathroom.

I laughed to myself at my crazy roommate and headed towards the kitchen to heat up the oven to get the tomato paste ready.

It took Alice half an hour to emerge from the bathroom, looking like a model in just sweat pants and a t-shirt. Essentially the same as what I was wearing, but she made them look like they belonged on a runway in Paris.

"Alice, it took me ten minutes to shower and change, what took you so long?"

"Bella? Looking this good take time" she said pointing her fingers in towards herself.

"Why would you need to look good to wear sweatpants and eat pizza?" I snickered.

"Because my dear Bella, you never know what may happen."

I shook my head at her reasons and decided that we best get to making these pizzas.

"Come Alice, let's finish up here."

An hour later we were sitting on the couch munching our pizzas that had just come out of the oven and looking for something to watch on television.

"You know what? There's jack all on television this evening… let's talk." Alice said, throwing the remote down onto the coffee table.

"Well, what do you want to talk about?" I asked.

"What do you think I want to talk about, tell me about your first day as an intern at 'Cullen International Law Firm'" she giggled.

"What are you laughing at?" I asked

"I just realized something?" she laughing a little harder as the time progressed.

"And what did you realize?"

"'Cullen International Law Firm' or C.I.L.F or CILF." And then she began to laugh hysterically.

"I don't get it." I said looking at her dumbfounded.

"Oh jeez Bella, for someone so smart, you sure can be ignorant to the finer things," she chuckled.

"I resent that comment, but if I am so ignorant then please, enlighten me."

"Okay then, have you ever heard the term MILF?" she said placing her pizza to the side so that she could face me properly.

"Yeah, doesn't it mean 'mother I'd like to …'" I flapped my hands in a circular motion to show her what I was getting at.

"You mean 'mother I'd like to fuck'? Jesus Christ Bella, you can swear. I really don't care." She said shaking her head.

"Yeah okay," I said blushing. "What does that have to do with C.I.L.F?"

"Well, my dear Bella, couldn't that stand for something like oh I don't know… Cullen I'd like to fuck?"

My mouth fell open and I felt another blush creep up the side of my neck.

"Alice!"

She began laughing so hard that she fell off the side of the couch. "Oh Jesus Bella, you are so innocent! It's hilarious!"

"I don't think it's that funny." I said frowning.

"Fine then…you have to do something about it." she said jumping to her feet.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on Bella, it's extremely obvious that you are a virgin, it's written all over your face."

I blushed again and she laughed.

"Alice, I'm not sure…" but she cut me off.

"Come on Bella, there has to be someone that you met at work today that can help you." she winked.

"Oh Alice, please." I scoffed.

"Don't give me that Bella."

"Fine, what is it that you want?"

"I want you to tell me if there is anyone at work that you like the looks of." she said, sitting down on the couch again.

"...there is someone…" I said quietly "…but not at work."

It was quiet for a while so I looked up from staring at my hands and found Alice grinning her heart out.

"What's he like?" she sang

"Oh Alice, is this really necessary? I don't even know his name!" I snapped at her, which just made her grin even more.

"Is he cute?"

"Absolutely gorgeous," I mumbled.

She started squealing and bouncing up and down. "Tell me about him, what does he look like?"

I sighed; I knew that I had been defeated in this one, and that she wouldn't stop pestering me till I told her.

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, he's about six foot two, and has the smile of an angel, and he's muscular, but not too muscular, and has a firm and solid build."

"Oh Bella, he sounds amazing. Where did you meet him?"

"At Starbucks." I said looking down.

"Cool, what does he do? Do you know?"

"Yeah…he was the one that served me."

There was a stunned silence.

"He was the guy that served you? You're crushing on hot waiter guy from Starbucks?"

"Um…yeah."

"That's…AWESOME!"

I sat there for a second contemplating what she had just said.

"Awesome? I don't follow." I questioned.

"Well now you get to see him every day, provided you buy coffee every day, and then you can assess his availability situation." I groaned at Alice suggestion

"Alice don't think that's a good idea, I would hate for it to be weird. Bbesides, he makes my coffee. I wouldn't even know how to talk to him, let alone ask him on a date or, god forbid, sleep with me." I complained.

"Well then I guess we are just going to have to get you to talk to some guys, you know…practice. Stand up."

"Um…why?" I asked perplexed.

"Because we are going out."

"Um, no we're not Alice, I have work tomorrow and its already twenty past nine, and I'm exhausted"

"I don't care, it's New York, and it's the city that never sleeps."

"Well it needs a fricken nap." I mumbled.

She laughed her tinkling laugh that sounded like chimes and bells and pushed me towards the massive room she called a closet.

An hour and a half later, we were getting out of the taxi outside a club that had people lining up for it half way down the street.

It had only taken Alice twenty minutes to get ready, claiming that she could thank the fact that she had spent half an hour getting ready for pizza. But it took her nearly an hour to get me ready with her trying to tame my curls that I had let run wild because I would shower in the morning again.

Alice was wearing a black and gray sequined dress that came halfway down her thigh, thick wool stockings to keep her legs warm, and a pair of 5" black stilettos with studded detail around the heel. She kept her shoulder warm with a stylish suit jacket.

I was wearing a tight red dress that came mid thigh and no stockings. Alice had claimed that my legs were too good to be covered up by meaningless that would just warm me up in the middle of winter. I had fight her but she just laughed and threw the dress at me.

On my feet, I was wearing plain black patent leather heels similar to Alice, but without the studs. And to cover up I was allowed to wear my David Jones fleece jacket that I had brought over with me from Australia.

I had to admit that I did look pretty good, though my legs were freezing.

"Alice, I'm going to freeze out here waiting in that line. And look how long it is. I have to get some sleep tonight; I can't afford to be half asleep at work tomorrow."

"Oh hush Bella; we aren't going to have to wait in the line."

"And why is that? We can't just walk in there; look at all these people here."

"Oh Bella, stop fussing and follow me."

So I did. Past the line that went for about fifty metres and up to a red rope that was blocking the exit to a club that judging by the sign was called Eclipse.

Then something strange happened. The bouncer at the door opened the red rope and ushered us through, which was met by an elated squeal from Alice and a lot of annoyed groans and shouts from the people still in the line.

I smiled to myself as I thought about how Alice seemed to know that this would happen, that she could just go through, and maybe she did.

"How did you know that we would get let in? Did you know the bouncer or something?" I asked Alice as I leaned into her ear so that she would be able to hear me over the pounding music.

"Bella, you will learn over time that I just know things sometimes and to just roll with it. Now…do you want a drink?" she asked pointing towards the bar.

"No thanks, works tomorrow remember?"

"Mhmm, so you've said."

Forty-five minutes later Alice was swaying on the dance floor with some brown haired god from the bar. From what I could gather over the sound of the pulsing music, he was a bar tender there, and worked the early shift, James was his name.

I know that I had vowed that I wouldn't drink, but at that second I didn't care. I didn't want to sit there at the side of the dance floor alone and miserable all night, but I knew I wouldn't be able to change that without some help.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked me as I made my way over.

"What do you recommend?" I replied.

"Well by the looks of it you seem a little stressed, so perhaps something to lighten you up perhaps?"

"Sounds good, give it to me," I said, and he did, a bright pink drink in a martini glass.

"Looks bad for me…what is it?" I asked.

"I don't really know," he laughed.

"I just kind of made it up on the spot," he grinned.

"You're bluffing" I joked as I looked at his face

"Nope, taste it, you're my guinea pig," I shrugged my shoulders and downed the whole thing.

It was sweet, but had a rough burning that I instantly recognized as very strong vodka. There had to be some cranberry juice or something in there and maybe some gin, but I wasn't too sure.

"Mmm, that's good, give me another."

Three drinks later I could feel my head start to pound. I knew that I had drunk too much, and I that there was no way that I would be legally able to drive in Australia.

"woooow myy head huuuuurts!" I slurred to the bartender.

"Well I'd say you're just about drunk," he laughed "You're kind of a light weight, you know that?"

"Shhhhhut up, I caaan hannnndle it" I said as I tried to take a step towards the exit, stumbling in my heels that hindered my equilibrium on a good day.

"Wow, you won't be going anywhere."

"Arrreee you kidding me? I havvve to go to work tomorrow, I don't want to get sent hoooome" I snapped irrationally.

"Home? Where are you from, I thought I detected a small accent" he asked as he came around the side of the bar and helped me sit down again, so that I wouldn't fall.

"Australia, the home of Hughhhh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Sammmmm Wentworth." I sniggered.

"Well then…how long have you been here?" he asked, sitting down beside me.

"Shoullldn't you bee behind the bar?" I asked, I didn't want him to get in trouble from his boss because of me.

"My shift finished five minutes ago, so no."

"Oh, okay. I got here on Friday." I said.

"And you already have a job? Where do you work?" he asked.

"I got and interrrrnship at… Cullen Internattttional Law Firrrm." I slurred.

"Oh yeah? My brother works there, he's a lawyer too."

"Yeahhh? I've only been there a day, bbbbut I might know him, whatttts his name?" I swayed a little and came close to falling off my chair.

"His name is Emmett McCarty?"

"Yeah! Emily, I know him… he's my mentor" I said while giggling at my own joke.

_Tee hee, Emmett doesn't like being called Emily, and I did. HAHA_

"What a coincidence," he said.

"You know what? You look pretty wiped, and if I know Cullen International like I think I do, you're not going to want to be late. Let me give you a ride to where you are staying. Do you have an apartment?"

"Yeah but I'm herrrrre with my roommate. I can't just leave her," I said reluctantly. But truth be told, there was nothing more that I would have liked than to leave with this man.

"Well why don't you go get her, I'll give you both a ride." I nodded and tried to stand up, but swayed and then nearly hit the ground, before I felt a pair of big strong arms wrap around me just before I hit the ground.

"My hero!" I sang dramatically, and he laughed heartily.

"Come on, I'll help you along."

We waded our way through the throng of people on the dance floor till we found Alice, rubbing up against the brown haired guy.

"Alice, I presume?" I heard the cute bartender ask.

"Yes?" she responded

"I have your roommate here, and she's pretty out of it, I was going to take her home, do you want a lift as well?" he asked.

"Actually, you know what? I was just about to come look for her to leave, if you could give us a ride that would be great." And then I could feel her eyes on me.

"And she said she wouldn't drink," she said. I could see her shaking her head.

I was kind of out of it. I couldn't process exactly what was going on around me, but I knew where I was and who was near. I just wasn't comprehending the situation entirely.

I could feel us start to walk towards what I presumed was the exit from the bar.

I knew that I was walking with them, but I was only half conscious. Only half processing the information. And nowhere near conscious enough to put in any of my own input.

"So how did you meet my lovely foreign roommate?" I heard Alice ask, Mr. Bartender.

"She came sauntering up to the bar looking for a drink and she asked me what I recommended, so I made something with what we had left. God, I don't know what it was but she downed it pretty quick and was asking for another not two minutes later." He explained.

"She seems to have a thing for men behind counters it seems," she laughed quietly, no doubt to amuse herself exclusively.

I found us rounding a dark corner down the side of a building I presumed to be the club that we had just left. It was dark down here, and if I had been more conscious I would have been worried, but I was in no state to be questioning my safety.

"That's my car over there." Mr. Bartender said, and I felt his arm lift from my back to point in an unknown direction.

"Nice… I presume that with a 3 series BMW you are not just a bartender?" Alice said.

_BMW…fancy._

"No," he laughed, "I actually own the club and bar. But I only work it when I get bored, guess I got lucky tonight, eh?" I heard him ask, and I could feel the upward and downward motion of his heard through his forearm that was gripping my back and stomach.

"I guess so," Alice laughed, and then everything went black.

I awoke the next morning to the sound of a whistling kettle and laughter coming from the kitchen.

Everything was so loud and it hurt my head just thinking about it.

_What happened last night?_

I went to sit up and felt my head throb painfully.

"Ow…" I said as I grasped my temples.

I continued to sit up and swung my legs over the side of the makeshift bed/mattress that I was still sleeping on.

I stood up and started to head towards the kitchen clutching at my head as I walked.

Stepping through the threshold of my bedroom I cringed at the light being emitted from the windows and lights in the main living area.

"Is all this light and noise completely necessary," I said to the voices.

"Well hello there sleeping beauty, how did you sleep?"

"I have no idea what happened last night, but otherwise I'm fine" I replied.

By this point I had figured out that one of them was Alice. At first, I had thought that the other might be Rosalie from across the hall but dismissed that thought when I remembered the flour incident last night.

I chuckled to myself as the memories overtook my main state of concentration.

I chose that as the ideal time to open my eyes properly and look at the clock that was sitting on the wall in the kitchen.

"EW, only 7:30, that means I still have to go to work."

"I was thinking I might go with you if that's alright." I snapped my head up towards the unfamiliar voice.

"Forgive me, but do I even know you?"

"Well you should, we met last night, and I may or may not be responsible for that pounding in your head."

That didn't really clear things up for me, though I was happy to have someone to blame.

"Good to know, and please excuse my crappy mood, but who are you and _how_do I know you?" I didn't mean to snap at him, or to sound like a bitch, but the throbbing in my head was getting to my mood more than it should have.

"Okay, well I guess I'll just have to re-introduce myself to you. My name is Mason McCarty, and I own the Club that you guys were at last night." He said grinning, he sounded quite proud of himself.

"Okay Mason, wait…McCarty? You wouldn't happen to have any relation to Emmett McCarty would you?" I asked.

"He's my brother why? Do you know him?" I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah I do, he's my mentor at Cullen International."

"Nice, so I guess that ride won't be so hard?"

"Well not normally, but this is New York, and I have been here less than a week, and I have no car." I said apologetically. You know…when you tilt your head to the side and bite your lip, as if trying to say 'oh my I definitely would if I could but I can't, but I really would love to.'

"Use my car!" Alice yelled suddenly.

I looked up and towards her to see her standing in the middle of the kitchen with a spatula gripped tightly in her right hand and frilly apron tried around her waist, and a silly grin planted on her face.

"Sorry Alice, I didn't catch that…" I said leaning towards her and cupping my ear.

"I said, use _my_car"

I stood there kind of dumbfounded for a second. She was so protective of her _baby._

"The Porsche? Are you sure Alice?"

"Yes, I'm sure god dammit! Now go change, I laid your attire for the day out in the mall, get changed quickly so I can do your make-up"

"Alice, I am perfectly capable of doing my own-"

"Hush" she cut me off and pointed towards the gigantic closet that I had taken to calling the mall, I guess it had caught on.

I nodded my head and headed towards the closet, slightly worried about what I would find. I knew that it would be appropriate office attire, but she had a way of bending the rules.

What I saw laid out for me on the couch was a white singlet, and a high waist floral yellow skirt that would have finished just above mid thigh.

"What is it with her and these short skirts and dresses?" I mumbled to myself.

There were also these black suede 4" ankle boots and a fitted ladies suit jacket.

It looked nice, presentable…and damn cold.

Underneath, I found a set of fluffy thick wool stockings, similar to the ones that she had been wearing last night and I heaved a sigh of relief.

I shoved everything on in record time, played with the edges of the skirt because they felt really short, and walked out into the living room.

"Alice, this skirt is barely covering my ass," I said pulling on it a little bit more.

"Nonsense Bella, besides you have a gorgeous ass, so if the guys at the office catch a glimpse, you have nothing to be worried about." I heard laughing coming from the kitchen and looked up to see Mason standing there chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?" I snapped.

"Just you two, Bella you look so uncomfortable, and Alice looks like a perky tailor trying to fix a hem or something." He laughed. "How long have you guys known each other, you look like you have been best friends for years."

"Five days," I mumbled and Alice sang from behind me.

"Is that it?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Yep, that's it," Alice said again.

"Wow."

It was an hour later before we got out of the apartment. Alice had pulled and pushed and prodded when it came to getting the clothes to sit right.

And then it took her nearly half an hour to get my hair and make-up to 'perfection'.

And _then_ she lectured for twenty minutes about how 'Esme' the fricking car drives and handles the corners and that you can't yell in her because she gets temperamental. She also didn't tread lightly on the fact that I needed to remember that this was America not Australia, and that they drive on the right hand side of the road not the left, and if I came home with a front end dent on the bonnet I was a dead woman. All the while Mason was standing there laughing his head off at me.

"Where's you car?" I had asked him as we were walking towards 'Esme'.

He bowed his head while a smirk came across his face. "You picked up on that huh?" he asked.

"Um yeah, you said that you drove me and Alice home from the club last night, how could I not?" I replied.

"Well that's a funny story, because as I was carrying you upstairs I had to leave it on the curb but I couldn't get the keys out. So I… left… them"

I stared at him in horror.

"You left your car running, with the keys in it, alone on the sidewalk in the middle of New York? Are you crazy? Or just plain stupid?" I chastised.

"A bit of both perhaps?" he laughed.

"Well what are you going to do about it?" I asked.

"I called the police and they said that they would put the word out to the other offices and the camera operators if they saw anything. I gave them the number plate, but he also told me I was stupid for leaving the keys in." I nodded.

"You were stupid." I laughed.

"So why do you have to go see your brother?" I said changing the subject.

"Well, I was hoping that I could use his car. I have to go out to Jersey today, so I figured he might lend me his." He said sheepishly.

"Oh, I don't know. It won't be without consequence." I laughed.

"Don't remind me, I'm going to cop it from him for the next ten years. He was the one that went with me to get it. He negotiated the price and the extras and everything…He's going to slaughter me," he sighed.

I pulled out onto 32nd street, watching where I was going and checking my lefts and my rights twenty times before pulling out into the traffic.

"I don't know why she's having me drive over you, you actually have an American Drivers License. I don't, nor do I have any practice on the road." I mumbled.

"Dear Bella, you seem to forget the reason in which you have to drive me. Remember what I did with my very own car just last night?"

"I guess," I sighed, "still doesn't make any logical sense to me."

"Yeah well, stop complaining and hang a left up here." He said, pointing out the window and to the left.

I turned it quickly so that I could get in before one of the cars coming the other way.

"The fact that you were able to make that turn in New York City without having to stop before hand is amazing." He laughed.

I laughed along with him and started to concentrate on the road ahead of me.

Pretty soon, I was able to recognize the roads and where we were. I knew that I just had to make a right hand turn at the next intersection, stay in the right hand lane, find a parking spot on Wall Street, and I was home free.

Once on Wall Street, I crawled along in the long line of limo and taxis and BMW's before I found a small parking garage sign blinking down a side street.

I turned down the street and zoomed into the lot albeit the wrong lane, but luckily there were no cars trying to exit the lot at this time in the morning. Mason got out of the car and went to grab a ticket for me from the real entrance and then walked around to the other side and opened the exit door for me to get in. Then he went and got another ticket so that we would be able to leave. As he got back in the car he handed me the ticket and I took it from his hand ad placed it in the window.

"Well that was reasonably pain free," I said clicking the lock button on the key and proceeding towards the office.

"Yeah well, imagine how much more difficult it would have been had you have come on your own?" he mocked

"I would not have had to drive if I didn't have to bring you, therefore avoiding the whole problem in the first place."

"True, but if I had not have come to your rescue last night, you may still be in bed, or in some sleaze balls bed right now, trying to find a way to get to work on time," he retorted.

"Yeah but you would not have had to rescue me if you hadn't given me those horrid drinks that made me absolutely lose my mind." I said back.

We continued to argue all the way up to the 17th floor, past the receptionist's desk and into mine and Emmett's joint office, where I placed down my bags on my small corner desk and turned to face him.

"If you had not decided to drop out of medical school and own buy a club, then I wouldn't have had the problem of drinking at your stupid bar and drinking your stupid drink" I said and I stomped my foot.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? And Bella, did you just stamp your foot?" I heard a deep voice say as he entered the office.

I looked up to find my eyes connect with none other than Emmett himself.

"No!" I snapped.

"Um… yes you did," Mason chirped.

"Shut up Mason," both myself and Emmett said as we turned towards him.

"Now, 1, how did you meet this misfit? Was he wandering around the front of the building claiming to have forgotten his key card again? Nope, no suit. " Emmett laughed as he sat down on his chair.

"Nice to see you too, Bro" Mason grumbled.

"Anyway, what's really going on here? I get off the elevator and the receptionist girl starts lecturing me on making sure that my intern knows who she is and isn't allowed to bring into the office. At first, I thought you had brought a boyfriend up or something, then I heard the arguing…"

"Long story," I mumbled, but it wasn't heard because at that second Mason jumps in with a detailed description of what and why we were arguing.

"…and so I tell her that if she had never had come over from the land down under then she wouldn't have needed to be celebrating Alice's not yet promotion because she wouldn't even know who she is."

I could see Emmett getting more intrigued in the story as it goes along.

"Sorry Bella, I totally have to agree with Mason on this one. It's totally your fault." he grins.

"Hey!" I said grabbing the nearest thing I could find and throwing it at him.

"A blunt pencil? That's the best you can do?" he asks.

"Yeah, you just be glad that it was blunt" I retorted back abhorrently.

"Oh yes, nice comeback Bella" Mason laughed.

"Shut up, moron" I said as I sat down and grabbed my head. The throbbing was almost worse now from all the yelling that we had been doing and Emmett's naturally loud voice was not helping.

Just then the phone rang, cutting off Mason and Emmett's bickering for a second so that he could answer the phone.

"McCarty…Right away, sir…Yeah, she's here…Nope, not a problem…Sure thing," then he hung up.

"Bella? Edward, I mean, Mr. Cullen needs to see you right away, up in his office. You remember how to get there?" I nod my head and leave the room as the bickering between the two guys starts up again, and I shake my head.

_Does Emmett ever actually do any work?_

I got into the elevator and pressed the button to take me up to the thirty-second floor.

_I wonder why this elevator has buttons for floor 33 and 34 but it isn't actually able to go up any further._

The door dinged open and I was met with the same sight as yesterday, except today both desks were manned, and the narcissistically cleaned one was manned by none other than Tyler.

_Not a woman then I suppose._

I walked up to his office, because I couldn't remember the name of the other one.

"Mr. Cullen called for me sir?" I asked politely.

"Took you long enough, head on through." I shook my head at his blatant rudeness.

_I left the minute Emmett got off the phone._

I ignored Tyler's comment and headed through the large double doors that I had walked through not 24 hours again much different circumstances.

"Ah, Miss Swan…Good. I need you to run down to the deli on 21st street and get me two bags of the French press espresso, two bags of the Belgium, and one bag of the Italian. Come back here and make me a cup with the same ratio as the bags, 2,2,1." And with that he fluttered his hand towards the door and I turned to leave, but at the last minute thought differently.

_"No you stupid cow, what are you doing? Do you WANT to lose your internship and be shipped back to Aus to face the shame of disappointment of Charlie?"_

I ignored the nagging voice of my subconscious and asked right out. "Sir, why not just a Starbucks?"

_"I hope you're happy with yourself"_

"I beg your pardon?" he asked as he lifted his head from the document that he was revising.

"Why not just a Starbucks coffee? It's faster and will probably taste better." I said.

"Because Miss Swan, as your ignorant taste buds _would_think that Starbucks is better. But when you have lived all over the world and tasted the best coffees and mixtures known to man, you do not settle for 'just' a Starbucks coffee," he stated, and went back to his work.

"_You were lucky this time"_

I stormed back into the elevator and banged my head against the wall once the door had closed,

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid," I mumbled to myself.

The elevator dinged at the 17th floor and I wandered off, through the ridiculous gap in the wall and into Emmett's office.

"Did you let him borrow your car?" I asked when I saw that Mason was no longer in the room.

"Ha-ha, yeah I did. Nice to know that you're the one responsible for it too, I'm holding you accountable if it comes back in more than one piece," he joked.

"Yeah ah huh. Anyway… I've got to go out, I'll see you in a few." I said waving behind my head as I left the room.

I could really start to feel the fun from last night start to eat away at my energy. I found it hard to smile at the thought that I was in America. I could barely find the energy to stop walking at the traffic lights.

"I need a coffee," I decided. I was going to work though this little speed bump in my day.

I started to make my way towards the Starbucks that I had visited yesterday but hesitated a second, remembering what Alice had said. _"Get to see him every day, provided you buy coffee every day, and then you can assess his availability situation."_

I guess I didn't have a choice now, did I?

As I approached the door to the shop, I paused just long enough for me to take a deep breathe and walk inside.

I approached the counter and saw that the blonde haired god was in fact working again today.

_Oh man, this could not be good. I must look like crap._

_"Nope you look like you have a hangover, open your eyes, lift up your chin, you look like a hobo."_

I did as my subconscious said and I lifted my head and smiled at Mr. Coffee-God.

"What can I get you?" he smiled.

"A plain black espresso please and no cream." I said tiredly.

I didn't understand, not an hour ago I was chatting happily with Alice and Mason. Then not half an hour ago I was arguing with him, but now I could barely stay on my feet.

_"It's the hangover, you moron. You know better than to drink on a work night."_

And I did, I had done it before, and it had come back to bite me in the ass that time too.

"You look pretty beat," he said as he rang up the bill.

"Yeah, I convinced my roommate to take me out dancing last night and it has really done a number on me." I said back.

"Mmm, you look like you're about to fall asleep on my nice clean counter."

"I'm closer to that then you think," I mumbled.

"Why did you go to work if you were so out of it from last night?" he inquired, as he began to make my coffee.

"Because it's a new job and I should have known better?" I said with a smile.

"How new?" he asked.

"Today is my second day."

"Wow, that is new, I thought you might have said two weeks, even a month." He grinned.

"Nope, my fifth day in the US and second day on the job," I said smiling as he handed me my coffee.

"Wow, so I take it judging by the accent you are from Australia?" I nodded while taking a sip of the steaming cup of 'wake the fuck up' in my hands.

"Sweet, where are you working?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"You ask a lot of questions for someone that works at Starbucks," I said laughing.

"What can I say? This is what my life amounts to… getting up putting on this stupid black t-shirt and coming to work, every morning." he shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense in some weird unconventional way," I smiled. "I work just around the corner at Cullen International Law Firm," I said pointing out the door and around.

"Ahhh yes, I have heard that Edward Cullen can be a bit of a prick if he wants to be." I nodded.

"Kind of half the reason I am here and not..Well, there" I laughed.

"What did he do?" he asked, leaning down with his elbows on the bench.

I looked around the shop and saw that there were really only 2 or 3 people in the room.

"He is sending me halfway across town to pick up some ridiculously expensive coffee beans, and then he wants me to brew him a cup," I said, taking another sip of my cappuccino.

"Hmm, sounds annoying, considering you said you had only been here 5 days, you would probably get lost," he said.

"No doubt about it," I laughed.

"Well here, I have an idea, how about I just make him a coffee, and you can take it to work and pour it in his special cup, how about that? If he claims that he can tell the difference, then I'll quit." He suggested.

"No, I can't let you put your job at jeopardy because of my boss's inflated ego." I said.

"Nonsense, I've been looking for a decent reason to leave this shit whole for a year."

"Um…okay, if you say so," I said uncertainly.

It was a nice thing he was doing, and an equally interesting experiment. But I didn't think that I would be able to let him take the fall for this. I would just have to go across town and pick up the beans anyway.

Five minutes later Mr. Coffee was handing me a large cup of black searing hot liquid and I smiled.

"Thank you. It's a life saver." And with that, I turned around to leave the store. But just before I opened the door, I heard him call out to me.

"Hey! Promise me you'll come back later and let me know how things went okay?" I nodded.

"Sure thing."

"Jasper," he said. "My name is Jasper."

"Bella," I replied smiling.

"Nice to meet you, Bella."

"You too, Jasper." And with that I hurried out the door and towards the parking lot.

As I approached Alice's Porsche I looked at my watch to make sure that I had enough time, but squealed to a halt.

_DAMNIT not enough time, I can't believe I spent an hour talking to Jasper. Shit and I don't have his coffee._

I looked down at my right hand that was holding the steaming white cup of coffee.

_Better than nothing I suppose._

And with that I rushed back to the building and up to the 17th floor.

"Where have you been?" Emmett asked the second I walked in the door to his office.

"Monsieur Cullen asked me to go get him his special blend of bean and brew him special coffee." I stated simply.

"So you got him Starbucks?" he laughed.

"He'll never know the difference." I stated simply.

"Are you sure about that? Because I'm pretty sure that the green paper cup gives it away," he mocked.

"Ha-ha smart ass, I'm going to put it into a mug. I didn't have time to run all the way across town."

"Too busy chatting up the hot guy at the coffee shop?" he teased. All the while I was searching the content of his cupboards looking for a mug to put the coffee in.

Once I found one I pulled it out, wiped it down with a tissue from my purse and began to pour the coffee into the mug.

"Yep." I said simply as I finished pouring, threw the cup in the wastebasket and headed out the door. There wasn't another word heard from Emmett before I left the room.

I headed towards the elevator for the sixth time that day, and definitely not the last.

I pressed the button for the 32nd floor and suddenly felt anxious as the lift began to rise.

_You'll be fine, nothing can go wrong other than he'll think that you an incompetent fool that can't make coffee._

I took a deep breath as I headed towards the big double doors. Tyler wasn't at his desk this time so I had to take it as I could just walk in.

I knocked lightly and stuck my head around making sure that it was all clear before exposing my whole body to what could be on the other side.

"Come in," I heard the monotone voice of none other than Edward Cullen say.

I walked in very slowly and surly with his cup of coffee and placed it on his desk.

The minute the cup left my hands his snatched it up, ready to inspect my handy work.

"Not what I asked for but… not bad. Actually, that's really quite good," he said, and then something strange happened, he looked up and smiled at me.

I was momentarily stunned by his masculine beauty that I could respond immediately, but when I did I grinned back at him just as happily.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, now tell me Miss Swan, have you received everything you need so far?" he asked.

"I'm not sure I follow, sir," I stated.

"Have you been assigned a Cell Phone yet, Miss Swan?" he chuckled.

It was a strange feeling, I had only been two days but I thought that I knew what he was like, but like Emmett said, he's actually a pretty cool guy.

"No sir." I said nervously.

"Well then we will have to set you up with one, you should have your handset and number by this time tomorrow. Good day." I nodded and headed towards the door.

"Oh and Miss Swan?" he asked and I turned around. "What is this?" he asked holding up the coffee.

"Oh I'm sorry sir, I can't tell you." And with that I smirked and left the room.

Once I left the office I started laughing to myself.

_Oh thank god for that._

I made my way back down to the 17th floor smiling the whole time.

"I take it he didn't spit it out at you?" Emmett laughed as I walked back into the office.

"Nope, in fact, he actually really liked it," I said laughing.

"Well done, 1 point Swan 0 for Cullen. I should take a tally of this; it could make work a whole lot more interesting." He laughed.

"Yeah, well, you know…I do what I can," I grinned.

I was glad that I was in a better mood. The coffee from Jasper had really done me wonders.

"Oh hey, Bella, that package I was telling you about came while you were upstairs" Emmett said while pointing to the buffet. And sitting upon said buffet were two boxes.

"Yay!" and I ran towards the buffet/counter top that was up against Emmett's window and grabbed the boxes, placed them on my desk and proceeded to open the more cube like one.

I ripped back the tape on the cardboard and looked down at another white box with the words MacBook Pro inscribed on the side.

"Oooh fancy," I laughed.

I, then, proceeded to open the next box, but what I found inside was not a box but a wad of plastic. Inside said wad of plastic was a black leather shoulder bag.

"Oh and a case! _Awesome!"_ I laughed.

But when I looked up at Emmett he was looking at the box on the floor with a perplexed look on his face.

"What are you thinking?" I asked quietly.

"I'm thinking that none of the other interns got laptops or bags," he said with a calculating look upon his face.

"Well maybe I'm just special, does everyone get phones?" I asked, just trying to figure out what was assigned and what was given specially.

"Yeah, a small blackberry." He said, and I nodded.

"Well, Mr. Cullen said that I would be getting a phone tomorrow." He nodded his head, the blank calculating look never leaving his face.

I started to unpack the box in which the sleek silver laptop sat in when Emmett's phone started to ring.

"McCarty speaking," he answered.

"Okay sir. Not a problem." And with that he hung up the phone.

"Mr. Cullen want me again?" I asked.

"Um no, actually he said for me to tell you that you could go home early." I raised my eyebrow perplexed.

"Now? Its only 11 o'clock."

"Boss' orders."

I shrugged my shoulders and stood up, placing the MacBook and charger in the bag and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Well I guess I'll go then. You have my email address if I have to come back in to get the boss man some more coffee right?" I asked jokingly.

"Ahhh no, but you can write it down right here. that way I'll just call the IT department so that you can get a company one that I can send to you," he said passing me a pad of sticky notes.

_._

And with that I waved a goodbye and left the room.

It was only a quarter past eleven, what was I going to do?

I, then, remembered that my new bedroom set was supposed to be delivered at 2 that day, so I decided that I would kill some time and go and get some lunch, then rush back to meet the furniture guys.

I walked down the street towards the Starbucks for the second time that day. The only difference was that I felt no hesitance when I opened the door and strolled in.

I had to line up this time as it was getting close to lunchtime and the rush was starting to work its way in.

Once I approached the counter I found to my disappointment that Jasper was not there at the front, in fact I couldn't see him at all. I felt my heart drop in my chest as I thought about not getting to tell him of our experiment's success till tomorrow morning.

"Hey Bella, how'd it go?" I smiled as I heard the familiar voice.

I looked to my left to find Jasper standing next to me smiling, and wearing normal clothes.

"It went GREAT!" I said laughing.

"I thought it might. It's my own personal blend, 2 parts prick and one part ass." He laughed.

"Sounds tasty." I joked

"What are you doing out so early anyway, weren't you in here just like, an hour ago?" he asked.

"Well yeah, but when I got back down from Cullen's office I had this," I gestured towards the laptop bag hanging off my shoulder "and a message from the man himself saying that I could have the rest of the day off."

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed.

"You take what you can get," he replied, "so what are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"I have the furniture guys coming at 2, so that I can actually sleep in a bed tonight, and then I don't know, I might do some writing."

"You write?" he inquired.

"Yeah, just Fan Fiction stuff, keeps my mind off of things. Though I haven't been able to do any because of the move you know…and the lack of computer," I laughed.

"Fair enough, what book do you write for?" he asked.

"You know that new vampire phenomenon?" I asked.

"You don't, do you?" he cringed.

"I'm afraid so, but I'm not a fan girl. Its just an easy plot to manipulate," I justified.

"That's because there is no plot," he retorted.

"Oh, have you read it?" I asked.

"I have indeed, and I almost wish I hadn't. But hey, if that's what gets your creative juices flowing then so be it." he said shrugging his shoulders.

By this time we had left the shop and were wandering towards the parking garage.

"Do you have any plans this afternoon?" I asked awkwardly.

"Nope, my day is now wide open," he grinned.

"Do you think you can drive me home?" I asked shyly looking down.

"I don't have a car," he said.

"No, I mean in my car,"

"You want me to drive you home in your car?" he laughed.

"Well it's my roommate's car and I had a couple of close calls this morning. I don't want to risk it, besides I don't have a driver's license."

"Well, yeah, I don't have a problem with that." he smiled down at me and we continued to walk to the parking garage.

Once we arrived there I grabbed the ticket out of it and put it in the pay machine. I put a fifty in the payment slot and didn't look at the change, and proceeded back to the car.

"This is a very nice car your roommate has here," he stated as he traced the curvature of the wheel guard.

"I know, hence why I don't like driving it in a busy city on the wrong side of the road," I laughed.

"Yes, I can see how that may present a slight problem." He laughed.

I chucked him the keys from my purse and got in the passenger side of the car.

"Um…Bella?" Jasper said from outside my door.

I rolled the window down and poked my head out. "Yes?"

"Wrong side," he laughed, and I looked to the front of the car and saw that I was indeed sitting in the drivers seat.

"Stupid American wrong side of the car seats" I mumbled as Jasper continued to laugh.

Once we were both sitting in the correct seats, Jasper proceeded to pull out of the car park and up the correct ramp to exit the building.

"Just be careful, if Alice knew I was letting someone other than me drive her car then she would have my head." I said, gripping the sides of the seat in anticipation for something bad to happen.

I didn't actually think we would crash, but the feeling was there, he was going too fast on the wrong side of the road for my comfort.

"Please slow down," I pleaded, gripping the seat a little bit more.

"Bella, I'm going the speed limit, stop worrying."

"How can I not worry, you're driving on the wrong side of the road," I whisper screamed.

"No, I am not. Quit gripping the seat like that or you'll rip the leather."

I let go of the seat a little and grabbed the brace bar that was positioned just above my head on the right.

"Turn left here." I squeaked, and to my immense relief he didn't try and do some kind of Italian job screech around the corner, but slowed down and waited for the right of way like a good boy.

"The first right," I said as we turned down the street and approached the turn off for my apartment.

"Just this building here, but the garage is down the side." I said pointing to the side street that ran down the side of the building.

Once we were parked and on the way to the front of the apartment building Jasper started talking again.

"Hey, I know this building," he said as we approached the glass doors indicating the entrance.

"I think my sister lives here," he elaborated.

"You only think?" I asked puzzled. "You don't _know_where your sister lives?"

"Well, I used to, but we had a falling out and well we haven't spoken in a while. She was just moving in actually," he said looking down at the pavement.

We started to scale the stairs, and by the fourth floor Jasper was complaining.

"Oh God, how do you do this everyday?" and I replied with a simple "I used to run," and then continue climbing myself.

"What floor do you _live_on?" he gasped at we got to the sixth floor.

"I live on the 7th, only one more flight to go," and he breathed out a sigh of relief and continued climbing.

When we finally got to my floor he decided that he was going to fall to the floor dramatically and close his eyes.

"Come on lazy, my doors down the end," I said as I nudged his side with my foot.

"I can't do it any longer, go on without me," he said dramatically, while rolling over and reaching his hand towards the roof, as a sign of giving up.

"You're pathetic," I said, and I walked to the end of the hall and unlocked my door.

"You can come in when you're ready, though I would hurry up, because I might just lock the door," I laughed and started to close the door really slowly, and speeding it up as I got further to the jam.

"No don't, I'm coming!" he said running while stumbling over his own feet because of getting up at such an awkward position.

I laughed and opened the door wider for him as he ran in and slumped on the couch.

"This is a nice place you got here," he said as he stared around the room analyzing every little bit of it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon talking and playing on my new MacBook, getting email accounts and stuff set up. Turns out, he wasn't completely ignorant to the workings of computers.

At around 2:30, the furniture men rang the buzzer and Jasper and I walked down to help them start moving boxes and stuff up stairs.

The movers themselves assembled the furniture, but we still had to bring it up. The movers finished at around 4:45 and I left them a big tip because of the stairs, apologizing profusely as they exited holding their back.

After that Jasper and I just sat there talking and watching Dexter on TV. It had actually been one of my favorite television shows in Australia, so it was great to have some familiarity.

"So let me get this straight, his mom was killed when he was like 3, in a container and he had to witness it. Then he was rescued by the cop Harry, and then Harry adopted him and helped Dexter to curb his need to kill by teaching him how to never get caught and only kill bad guys. Now he's married to this Rita chick and has a son and two other step kids?" Jasper asked trying to clarify.

I had just spent twenty minutes trying to explain to him all that had happened in the last 3 seasons.

"Yes," I said laughing.

"That Rita is an ignorant bitch isn't she?" he laughed and I nodded.

About ten minutes later when the episode was starting to wind down I heard the sound of a key entering the lock on the door, and the door opening. I looked around the corner behind the couch and saw that I was Alice getting home.

"Honey, I'm Home!" she sang and laughed to herself as she chucked the mail on the bench and turned around.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she laid eyes on me sitting next to Jasper.

"Bella, who's this?" she grinned.

"Jasper, Alice, Alice… Coffee Guy"

WHAT DID YOU THINK.

i had a brilliant idea as i was just about to start writing this authors note, why cant we have the option of having the review button before or after an authors note? wouldn't that be awesome? i mean, that would make it a lot easier for a lot of readers that have to scroll through a thousand words of Authors Note just so that they can review, it would also let me ramble on after the button if i wanted to, and then y'all could read it only if you wanted to XD

okay so in the un edited chapter i had an authors note as well and talking to my friend we decided that would paste that one here as well, because apparently you might miss out on the humor, but anyway... ill post that here, and you can also find out what happened and why it took so long to get the chapter up

_**okie dokie, my little authors note like i promised, there will have to be a different one on the replacement chapter i realized, but hey, no pain no gain (does that metaphore even work here?)**_

_**anyway, so my beta has been extrememy busy so she wasnt able to get me my chapter to me in time for a post yesturday, or today, so i called out to twitter and found someone that would check it out so that i could sufficiently post it and not worry too much about the nitty gritty stuff that im really terrible at punctuation grammar that sort of stuff.**_

_**anyway so what happens is i get the chapter back im all excited until i try and open it, and then its coming up with an error screen saying that the content contains some kind of error or what not. anyway.. so because i have to post the next MM tomorrow i needed to post this tonight, so here it is, i promise you that i will re-post when i get the beta-ed chapter back, but i figured you guys deserved the chapter and i deserve all the reviwes you give me because i worked my ass for this chapter**_

_**be proud emma, natalie, no need to bring your shot gun to school i posted.**_

_**BTW AWESOME NEWS my computer savvy friend cohen has managed to fix my website, so head on over and have a look at me rant some more XD**_

**anyway i think that was all of it XD that should be enough from me... BTW i got my Midnight premier screening of Eclipse tickets YAY haha **

Todays question: (the one from the unedited chapter)

If you were stranded on an island with no food or water and you could take one person with you who would it be?

(not necessarily a difficult one, but im tired)

Emmett.... (my choice)

Jasper....

Alice....

Rosalie....

Carlisle....

Esme....

and im going to put up another one as well because i feel like it.

"If you moved to new york and had a budget what would you choose."

1. Larger apartment less spending money

2 smaller apartment more spending money (SHOES!!!!!)

3. fuck it im moving to another city, i want big and money

_my choice._

_i choose to.... move to another city, chicago has some not too horrid options, i could also do Seattle, besides i am moving to america within the next 5 years, i have to finish school first, i wanna move mid 2012 lord knows if it will happen though, my parents want me to do Uni here, but i dont want to... i wanna do uni in the US anyway,...._

REVIEW


	5. MiniMoment 2 It's My Life

**Chapter song:  
**_its my life  
its now or never  
im not gonna live forever  
its my life and ill decide  
Its. My. Life  
(not sure if these are the actual words, but its what my head was singing and it fit.)_

***I don't own twilight, but the feeling spread upon this page are mine, and they cut me***

**RPoV**

I don't think I have ever cried so much. Not the hard sobbing wailing crying but the type of crying that is just solid, it never stops and after you have done it for a while your head starts to throb.

There has never been a time where I have wanted my mom so badly, to cry into her shoulder and let her know that I love her and that I miss her, that I just want to tell her all my problems and for her to make them go away.

_I think you need to find god. _She would say. The stupid Croatian cow would say.

Every time she opens her mouth I wish she would close it before she says something else that makes me want to pack all my shit back up and leave.

_You have issue, this is not just a Royce thing, there is deep, deep issues within you, and I want to heal you Rosalie, I need to heal you._

Jesus Mary fuck. She sounds do patriotic and noble, but really I want to take the closest candelabra stick to her head and watch her bleed out on the ground. I want to pretend that I would curl up beside her after her I had done it and sob with regret, but I know that as soon as I do it, it will a burden off my back. I know that if she were gone, my life would be that much better.

I want to feel like I need her, and that I care for my dad enough to want to be happy with the satanistic whore. But I know that he loves her and that he would die if she left in one form or another.

I sit here thinking that maybe life would be better if I lived with my mother.

I think maybe I would be getting better grades if I was with my step dad and her just 20 minutes down the road with the horses and the bob cats.

I think maybe my brother and I might have a better relationship if we lived together and weren't separated by walls of trees and mud.

But I cry myself to sleep every night thinking about how great life is supposed to be, but isn't because I can't get over _something._

I don't know what triggered it. I want to say that there was a defining point in my life where I just knew that I hated her, or thought I hated her.

But I can't, because there isn't.

I want to stand here and insult her and tell her that she's fat and should lose some fucking weight, but then I look at myself in the mirror and tell myself that very same thing instead.

I life my shirt up just above my midriff to see the gleaming diamantes that sits in the small metal bar weaving itself though the skin above my belly button and tell myself that it looks good there and that it wasn't just a vain attempt at motivating myself to lose weight so that I wasn't so ashamed of someone seeing it.

I think back to the day that my brother Jasper told my parents about the offending alloy through my stomach, and about the lecture I got that I needed to respect my body and everything about it.

My face, I want to regret the extra earrings and laugh at myself and at how I have conformed to society's views on what a modern teenager should look like.

There are five options and one mandatory opinion.

You should either be a slutty whore bag that wears too much make-up and enjoys a manicure, can't read a book and gets shitty grades and get their belly button pieced and has lost their fucking virginity by the time they are 17.

Or you could be an emo punk teen, rocking out to alternative rock and metal music, banging your head and growing your fringe.

You can be a well liked jock get along with everyone and therefore because you are so damn good at sports you have a great fucking body.

Or you might be a dancer who can jump all over the stage and look amazingly graceful and well loved, but lusted over by all the hot guys because of all the aspired positions in bed.

Or you can be the crazy girl, class clown who makes stupid jokes and covers her insecurity with filth and laughter.

If anything I cover the last category.

I play the eccentric overly energetic girl with an over active mind and a need to be laughed at. But it all covers my insecurity at home.

I laugh along with my friends at lunch and make stupid and absolutely hilarious jokes that out everyone in hysterics but really that's all they keep me around for. Im the girl that makes them laugh, Im the life of the party.

What they don't see is the hurt behind it all.

They only see the mask and interpret that as the real thing. And I live with that mask in place, of contentment and happiness. And I don't care about the shit report card that was delivered just 4 weeks ago. They think that im going to work at the steady pace that I have not changing a thing, because I am content with my life amounting to shit.

But life I said. It's all a mask.

I changed my home life before I got the report card. I stopped paying attention to the cow so that I could finish my homework and study in the same night.

I stopped turning on the computer when I got bored with homework and getting distracted by twitter and Facebook. My friends blamed it on my supposedly broken router.

I started changing things because I don't want to amount to nothing. I want to leave this shit hole and move to a place where I can be rich and famous. I want to be known and sought out by people.

For so long I thought I wanted to be a doctor I thought I wanted to do something that mattered. But I was wrong. I was scouted by a modeling agency at a mall one day, and though I had always told myself that I would tell them no. they made me feel beautiful. They made me want to lose that extra weight. And I did… plus some.

And now look where I am. Crying to my parents and about my step cow. Because they don't think it's a great idea for me to move. Well fuck them. Im going whether they like it or not. Because I can decide what I want for myself. And screw everyone that tries to get in my way, this is my life. And ill live it the way I fucking want to.

**Thanks for reading guys, I am aware that this was amazingly late, and I promise that the schedule will pick back up from either Wednesday or Saturday, I just need some time to clear my head. **

**PS this is also the first chapter to a new story that I am starting, check it out, it will have a different outcome to the one that this story wants, and this is also slightly different from the other considering I had to mold this so that it fit with this story, but all in all, the chapter is mostly the same. **

**Hop over to my other account www . fanfiction . net / ~callmejess**

**It my only story on there and its going to be a downer… but please, if you want some insight into Rosalie please go and have a look**


	6. Conspiracy

"**Please speak softly,  
for they will hear us,  
and they'll find out,  
why we don't trust them,  
…Explain to me,  
this conspiracy against me!...  
****- Conspiracy- ****Paramore.**

***I don't own twilight, nor would I want to, because then I would know that it is fictional, and my subconscious just wouldn't be able to deal with that ***

"Jasper, Alice. Alice, Coffee Guy"

A small smile started to worm its way across Alice's face as she looked up and down Jasper's tall form. She started to giggle a little, and then turned to wink at me. I blushed.

I swiveled around from the front door to cast a glance at Jasper, only to find him sitting with a perplexed expression upon his face.

As time whittled on and the silence in the room proceeded, a grin similar to the one that Alice was wearing crawled along the front of his face.

"You've been talking about me, huh?" he grinned smugly.

"I may or may not have mentioned you briefly" I defend. I was not about to admit the extent to which Alice and I had discussed him.

"If by briefly you mean we chatted about you for hours yesterday then yes, briefly." Apparently Alice felt differently.

I turned my gaze back to find Alice grinning mischievously from the kitchen table. She was placing down her massive 'handbag' and laptop. Now we had the same computers too.

"So, to what do we owe the pleasure of having you in our humble abode, dear Jasper?" Alice said, dramatically.

"I was just here to help Bella drive home and set up her new computer." I saw Alice's face falter as Jasper answered her question.

"New compu- wait… help you drive home?" Alice asked quizzically.

"Yeah, she asked me if I could drive her home, because she was scared that her roommate Alice would kill her if she came close to smashing her car again and… oh, you're Alice?" Jasper said, but slowing down at the end, realizing that he probably should have kept his mouth shut.

"You let him drive my car?" she all but screamed.

Her hands were balled at her sides and her eyebrows were narrowed.

I could see that she was really trying to hold back from completely flipping out. I chanced a glance towards Jasper to see that he was slightly scared of her, and I was silently nodding my head. Good man.

"Alice really, it's not such a big deal. Would you have rather me crash the thing into the side of the Empire State Building?" I played.

"Yes!" she retorted "because then you might not have had a chance to be kidnapped by some creepoid, no offence Jasper…"

"None taken."

"… and I could've come and saved you, I can replace a car, but I cant replace my best friend," she said, as her anger simmered down.

"Ohh Alice!" I crooned. "I'm your best friend?"

"Yes, you are you dick head," she said, feigning annoyance and crossing her arms while looking to the side.

The whole time Jasper had been watching our exchange humorously and by this time he was chuckling silently to himself from the seat beside me.

I took that as my chance to stand up and excuse myself. I was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"What do you feel like for dinner Alice?" I asked as I searched the pantry.

"Um, I don't really know. Why don't you pick tonight?" she said, making her way over to the living area and sitting down on the couch with Jasper.

This cannot be good.

I had decided to make a really simple and yummy lasagna with my mum's famous white sauce. As I was getting the ingredients out, I heard laughter coming from the vicinity of the living room.

"What are you two giggling about in there?" I asked leaning over the bench to get a good look at them.

"Nothing Bells, don't worry about it." I heard Alice giggle, trying to avoid my inquisitive stare.

Half an hour later I was starting to layer the pasta on the bottom of the dish, when a loud booming laugh came from the couches.

"Oh geez, what are you guys talking about?" I laughed, wiping my hands on a hand towel and walking around the side of the bench so that I could see the culprits.

"Well Bella, if you must know… I have decided that Jasper is no good for you. He's just too unkempt." She giggled.

" And needy, I'm really needy," Jasper put in.

"Is that right? For all you know maybe I like my men unruly and needy. I grew up in Australia, after all. "

"Touché, but I hear and saw the way that you looked at Masen, and the way you talk about Emmett. And I know you have some form of attraction to Mr. Cullen, and don't even try to deny it. You like your men suited up and independent. Admit it." I blushed but nodded my head, shamed at the fact that I was so easy to read.

"Whatever Alice." With that I turned around and walked away.

I decided to go back to the kitchen and finish making our dinner. I began layering the pasta with the cheese sauce and meat, all the while having to listen to Alice and Jasper giggling in the living room. He would no doubt the same for dinner.

I best set the table for three.

I was just about ready to put the dish in the oven so I finished putting the cheese on the top and went to turn the oven on.

But just as I was about to set the timer I noticed that the oven was not turning on.

"This is not happening to me, please work," I said, pleading to the oven in front of me.

"What's wrong Bella? Is everything ok in there?" Alice called from the living room.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. Just looks like we will be having Chinese for dinner, " I laughed.

"Why? What happened?" She laughed.

"Oh nothing, just the oven isn't working," I replied.

I could hear her and Jasper laughing from the living room.

"It is not funny." I feigned annoyance.

"Yes, I think it is," retorted Alice.

I huffed and crossed my arms.

Over the next two hours, Alice, Jasper and I watched movies and ate the Chinese food, laughing over the day's events.

I cannot deny that I had a really good time, To say that I was annoyed to get in bed would have been a lie. Now that I had my new bed that Jasper had helped me set up I was ready to go in my own room, thankful that I was in my own bed.

The next morning I was nervous to go to work. I did not know what would happen regarding my early dismissal yesterday, yet I was still eager for the same reasons.

As I lay in bed, I thought about how I would approach Mr. Cullen. I was brought out of my thoughts by the smell of pancakes and coffee.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and made my way towards the kitchen to make sure that Alice wasn't burning it down.

What I saw was what shocked me the most. Jasper was standing at the bench in the kitchen whipping up a batch of pancakes completely naked except for the non-descript apron tied around his waist. Alice was sitting on the bench swinging her legs back and forth as she ogled him while he worked.

"You know it's not polite to stare," giggled Alice.

"I don't mind" Jasper said, cockily, while smirking in my direction, and I promptly closed my mouth that happened to be hanging very close to the ground.

"No, honey, but I do." Alice pouted.

"Honey?" I said, raising my eyebrow.

"You're just jealous." Alice said, poking a tongue out at me.

"Hardly," I retorted, but Alice and Jasper continued to smirk at me like they knew some dirty little secret and were waiting to see if I would figure it out.

"So, what did you guys get up to while I was asleep?" I asked hesitantly after the awkward moment of silence… for me.

"Well, we played a couple of games, he teased me a little, and then we shared common physical interests" she grinned smugly.

Realization struck as I caught her double meaning. It must have shown on my face because Alice started cackling evilly while Jasper just continued to smirk at me.

I turned to glare at Alice and decided to do things myself this morning. That would be her punishment for making fun of me.

I stocked up to the counter where there was stack of pancakes on a plate. I grabbed three and then stocked back to my bedroom.

Now that I had all my furniture it actually looked quite nice, and like someone lived in there besides the dust mites.

There was a bed up against the wall on the right. It was a dark chocolate brown wood, stylish and modern design. Queen sized.

Against the adjacent wall was a book case. I had picked this out to go with the bed and the rest of the furniture, though it remained empty for the time being.

On the wall opposite the bed sat a vanity mirror and drawers. It was the same color as the bed and the book case. It held a hairbrush and some other ridiculous bedroom 'necessities' according to Alice. She had made me buy a whole lot of things to place on it, making me believe that until my book arrived from home then they were mandatory.

I made my way into the communal closet and looked around, trying to figure out what I would wear. The advantage of Alice always picking out my clothes was that I saved a great amount of time not having to decide what to wear. I did not have that benefit this morning.

I decided that I should probably have a shower and get that out of the way. Fifteen minutes later I was standing in front of the mirror and drying my hair, wearing nothing but a towel to cover my lady bits.

Once my hair was dry I made my way out of the bathroom and through to my bedroom.

On my way pased the living room though, I took a quick glance towards the kitchen and regretted it the moment I did. Alice was still perched on the edge of the bench, but she was also pressed up against Jaspers apron clad chest, sucking face and grabbing his behind in a tight, nail marking hold.

Gag!

I made my way towards my bedroom, trying my best to ignore the lovebirds in the kitchen and the nagging voice in my brain telling me that they had only met yesterday.

I finally made it into the large closet room-shopping mall area and dreaded the task of having to choose my own clothes. I did, however, have the advantage of my whole closet being color and type coordinated so that made the whole task a lot easier.

I was about to head towards the section with the suit pants when something purple caught my eye.

Damn it that pixie to hell!

There sitting on the plush couch in the corner was an outfit and a note.

_Bella, _

_Did you really think that because you managed to avoid the conversation that I wouldn't pick out your clothes for the day? No can do my dear, I am here till you leave me, and that's never going to happen so I'm here for good. Suck it up._

_Alice xx_

_PS Don't interrupt me and Jazz, we're basking in our new couple glow. Yes, I said, new couple… no screaming. _

I smiled to myself despite the feelings inside of me that said, that I should be mad at her for taking away my self dressing privileges. Then I thanked my lucky stars that she did because she and I both knew that I had no style or ability to dress myself with some kind of color coordination.

There, sitting on the couch, laid a black pencil skirt, a purple blouse, a black high wasted belt and mauve ankle boots.

"No tights? Damn, I'm going to freeze," I said, to myself.

I rolled my eyes at no one in particular and changed into the outfit, without the tights. I knew that if I modified it there would be hell to pay.

Overall, it took me about another half an hour to get ready. I applied a light layer of lip gloss to my lips, a subtle layer of mascara and placed a purple tea cozy upon my head and I was ready to go.

As I exited into the living room I looked around to see if I might run into tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee, but the lack of sound coming from the kitchen was both comforting and alarming.

I carefully snuck out of my room ,headed towards the coat closet next to the door, grabbed my black fleece coat that had become my favorite, and headed out the door.

I smiled to myself in satisfaction knowing that I had escaped Alice, but paused when I heard the familiar shrieking coming from behind Rosalie's door.

"Are you kidding me?" she shrieked.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" a second voice replied.

"No, but I sure as hell hope you are," she yelled back. I took that as my cue to leave because I didn't want to be caught eavesdropping by Rosalie Hale.

I hurried down the many levels of stairs, the conversation that I had just overheard constantly played over and over in my mind.

Who was it in there with her?

Before I knew it, I was in a taxi and on my way to my third day of work. It was hard for me to believe that I had only been in America for under a week, yet I already had a friend for life and a great, albeit confusing, job.

Arriving at work was the same as yesterday. Swipe in with my employee's swipey-card thing, and then proceed to the marble and wood paneled elevator to take me up to the 17th floor.

When I arrived in the office, I found Emmett hard at work at his desk for a change.

"So, you're actually doing some work today?" I said, while putting my over coat on the coat rack Emmett had by the door.

"Yes, Bella, because, though it may come as a shock to you, I do have a purpose here, and that purpose is to make some criminals go to jail. Hence the boring paperwork," he said, indicating his desk and pile of paperwork stashed to his left, while giving me a big cheesy grin.

"So, what's on the schedule for Miss Isabella Swan, Attorney-in-Training?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Guess I'll have to wait for a call directly from the big man upstairs," I said, pointing to the ceiling.

"And how do you know that he is big?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Regarding office hierarchy," I said, lightly slapping his arm and laughing.

"Ahh, I'm looking for a Miss Isabella Swan?" said, a voice from behind me. I turned around rapidly to see who the voice could belong to, only to find a pimply-faced delivery boy holding a small package.

"That's me," I said, raising my hand as if I were in primary school again.

"Can you sign here please?" he said, thrusting a pad of paper in my face. I nodded, took the paper, signed and he handed over the package.

"What is it?" I said, looking at Emmett and turning the package over and over in my hands.

"It's probably that phone that Mr. Cullen said, that he was getting you," he said,. He had his head lowered and had resumed his paper work.

"Hmmm," I said, to myself as I began taking off the securely applied paper from the box. When I opened it I found that Emmett was right, it was the phone Edward had been talking about.

"Hmm, a BlackBerry. A couple of girls at school had these." I said, flipping over the box in my hands continuously

I looked up and saw Emmett gazing at me speculatively.

"What?" I said, defensively.

"You got a BlackBerry?" he asked.

"Yeah, see?" I said, while thrusting the box towards him.

"Hmmm," he said, looking over the box much the same way that I had.

"I'm a little disappointed. I mean, with all the Apple tech I figured iPhone," I joked. But Emmett continued to frown.

"Hey, it was a joke. If anything, I figured it would be one of those Nokia's with the full keypad, but not a Blackberry," I said, trying to clear the air.

"Yeah, no. I know that you were joking. I'm just thinking," he said, waving a hand at me.

I knew that I had only known Emmett for a total of about three days but even in this moment I could see that he was a great lawyer when he was focused and analytical like this.

"Why all the special treatment?" he mumbled quietly. I would have said, something if I hadn't been thinking the same.

He shook his head a few minutes later as if to shake the thoughts from his mind, and handed me the phone.

"Unpack it so that you can give me your number and I can bother you at home" he said, grinning, his former analytical self gone.

"Haha, okay," I said, laughing.

I went and sat down at my table/desk and started to unpack the box. Inside was the usual, charger, explanation booklet and phone. In this case it was a Blackberry Bold. Sitting on top of it all was the phone card that I was looking for.

I placed it in the back of the phone and turned it on, smiling as I saw the screen light up.

Once it was turned on, I started playing around with it, putting in numbers that I would never be able to use, opening up my emails on the internet, all with a huge smile on my face.

I was so awestruck with the gadget in my hands that when it started to ring, I jumped five feet in the air and nearly sent the thing flying.

Emmett thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. He was clutching his stomach, he was laughing so hard, and I would have been laughing also if I wasn't too busy trying to compose myself so that I could answer the phone.

"Hello?" I asked hesitantly when I had finally organized myself enough to allow words.

"Miss Swan, this is Edward Cullen. I was wondering if you would come upstairs, please? It is time to introduce to you the Filing Room. Oh and do bring your new phone and computer." The way he said, The Filing Room almost gave me chills.

He made it sound as if I was about to go up into a room that was indeed more than just a filing room.

"Who was that?" Emmett asked once I had pressed the end button.

"Mr. Cullen," I said, simply. As I rose from my chair I went and grabbed the leather laptop bag and placed my new phone in the side pocket and made my way for the door.

"Good luck," called Emmett as I left the room.

God knew I'd need it.

"Ah, Miss Swan, good. Take a seat." In Mr. Cullen's office I was a little nervous.

The last time I had been in there I wasn't necessarily bad or anything, but it was almost easier because I was new. He had no previous record to work off, just my University and High School grades, which were good. They were great…I think.

"I have called you up here just to see how you like the internship so far. It's your third day around here so you must be fairly familiar with how things work etcetera," he said, placing his folded hands on the desk in front of him.

"Um, I would like to say yes, Mr. Cullen, but to tell you the truth I haven't really done…anything…yet," I said slowly. I didn't know if I should have been doing anything in particular for the last three days and that made me uneasy.

What if I was seen as slacking off on only the third day?

"Quite right, Miss Swan, and right now we are about to do something about that," he said, standing up and walking around the side of his desk.

"If you will follow me, we will make our way up to The Filing Room." I nodded my head silently and started making my way out to the elevator, following behind Mr. Cullen.

The awkward silence in the elevator was almost too much to handle. Mr. Cullen seemed tense and almost nervous if I didn't know better.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"You may ask. Whether you receive a sufficient answer will be subject to what the question is," he replied, not looking at me, but rather the reflection of me in the doors of the elevator.

"Why did you let me go early yesterday?" I blurted. I immediately slapped my mouth and chastised myself for my word vomit.

_God, Bella! This is your boss; you can't just blurt out any old thing left right and centre!_

I smirked shyly, looking up at his smirking face.

"Well, that's an easy question," he grinned down at me. "I let you leave prematurely because I had nothing for you to do for the remainder of the day. You see Miss Swan, I run a tight ship over here at C.I.L.F. and nothing will stand in my way of getting done what needs to be achieved on a daily basis. You, however, had no more part in the company's schedule yesterday, and therefore were no longer needed, hence your ability to go home."

I was looking at the ground as he finished talking. It was a fairly long winded speech about why I was allowed to leave, rather than just saying, 'you were done for the day'. His necessity to explain every detail made me believe that he was a bit of a control freak. And he liked things going his way.

And why was I done for the day? Couldn't he have just brought me up here then? Let me have an extended lunch break perhaps? But to dismiss me all together seemed to be a little unnecessary.

_Because there is something weird going on, you just don't want to admit it to yourself._

I shook my head to shake away the strange thoughts. There was nothing going on, He is just a little bit of a control freak. There is absolutely nothing wrong with things going exactly as planned… I think.

By this time we had exited the elevator and were making our way towards a metal door with a keypad and a swipe card section.

He walked up to the door, swiped the card and then while the card was still in the swiper he put the key code in.

We walked through the door that opened only to come to another door.

Keycard, key code, and another door? Paranoid much?

"Safety precautions," he said, smiling back at me.

At the second door, he placed his thumb across a touch sensitive pad and the door beeped. A few minutes later, the door clicked open and we both walked through into the room that had been the topic mass speculation between Alice and I. Jasper may have slotted his opinion in there once or twice as well.

When we entered the room I was both surprised and not by what I found. There were aisles and aisle of shelves and then that again made up of massive filing cabinets. There were so many things in there. The organization system would have to have been phenomenal.

"Wow," I breathed. Not necessarily in a 'oh my, this is so beautiful I'm going to start hyperventilating' kind of way, but more of a 'holy crap I'm going to be stranded in here for the next six months?' kind of way.

"Yeah, it took three months to get the security system and then the organizational system into play completely, but it was well worth it," he said,. I gazed to my side where he was standing next to me and took a look at his expression. He was gazing out towards the room in front of us with a wistful and almost admiring expression.

"That's…a long time." I wasn't quite sure how to respond so I just played dumb and continued to analyze the room before me.

"Indeed it is when you want to run a company and you have to wait to be able to start the most fundamental process." He said, smiling down at me again.

"Now, there are a few things we need to do before I tell you of your job up here," he started. He was serious again, and the minute glimpse I got of his happiness was beautiful enough to blind a person.

_Oh GAG! Beautiful enough to blind a person? What is this, an office romance? You're here to work and get a great experience in one of the best internships in the world, and you go weak at the knees when he smiles, cheese and rice._

"Okay, that sounds fine," I said, shaking the chastising thoughts from my head.

"Okay, so come over here to this computer and place your right thumb on the pad." He said as he pushed a pad similar to the one on the wall towards me. It was blue and had a wire streaming out the back, connecting to the back of a large desktop Mac.

I placed my right thumb on the pad and pressed down, assuming that was what I had to do but dreadfully afraid that I was going to break it.

"Okay, don't move while I calibrate the system," he said while tapping away at the keys.

A good twenty seconds later he was done and had told me to lift my hand.

He was silent for a few more minutes while he tapped away at some more keys and moved the mouse around a little, clicking in an out of pages, and then finally…print.

The little not-so-printer-looking-like box next to the computer started making strange sounds and then spat out a plastic card, not unlike the one he had used to get into this room.

"Here you go," he said, handing me the card fresh out of the not-a-printer box. "This is your key card, and the code is 59680419. Don't forget it, and don't tell anyone."

He gave me a stern look and I nodded.

Once I had nodded, he turned on his heel and started walking briskly towards the extreme left end of the room.

"The code is changed fortnightly so I will call you every second Monday morning with the updated code. The phone lines are secure so that we cannot be heard," he said as he continued to walk quickly and I struggled to keep up.

All of a sudden he turned violently and came right up in my face. "But if you tell anyone you will be more than fired. The legal suits that you will be tied up in will make your life so hellish that you will never want to set foot in a court room again… understood?" I nodded my head, frightened.

_Don't screw up! Oh, and try not to think about it before you go to bed. With your luck you will end up sprouting the code in your sleep._

Once I had nodded, he turned around and started walking quickly again. I had to jog to catch up, which was probably a bad idea in heels. Not moments later my toe caught on something non existent and I went sprawling to the floor.

I lay there wondering how long I would have to stay on the ground before my body decomposed because that seemed like a better idea than having to get and brush myself off in front of the boss man.

"Miss Swan! Are you alright?" Boss man said, rushing to my side and helping me up.

"Unfortunately," I replied dusting off my skirt and fixing my hair.

He smirked and nodded, then continued to walk. A few moments later we slowed and came to the very end of the cabinets and roller drawers.

"This is where you will be working for the next month, compiling the names and such in alphabetical order of our cases etcetera. Each aisle is a letter and you must place the file in the correct spot. Though there is nothing to prove that you have placed it in the wrong spot, I would refrain from doing it, because eventually I will know."

I stared at my hands as he continued to explain what it was exactly that I would be doing for the next month. But all in all it boiled down to the fact that I would be spending it in this windowless room filing files.

_This is what you wanted. If you work hard enough, you might get out of here and do something a little more law associated._

When I snapped out of my mental musing I looked up to find Mr. Cullen looking at me.

"Do you understand all of that?" he said, slightly annoyed. He knew that I hadn't been listening.

"Yeah, I guess," I said, looking down at my hands again for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

"Well then, what did I say?" I felt like I was in school again. When you get caught by the teacher not listening and they try to call you out.

"File the documents properly and I won't be sued." I said, with a touch of humor that slipped right over his head.

"No, Miss Swan. No such thing was said in the last five minutes, nor was a joke of the same caliber made. I said not to touch the black cabinets in the back, they are off limits, and tampering with them will result in immediate dismissal. Do you understand now?"

I nodded my head ashamed.

_How could you miss that?_

"I understand," I mumbled. He nodded his acceptance and continued towards a rack filled with manila folders and papers alike.

"This is where you shall start. Once you finish you can take your lunch break, which will now be limited to thirty minutes, and then when you can come back up here and there will be another rack waiting. Finish that and you can go home." I barely had a chance to nod my comprehension before he was walking away.

I stood watching as he departed, and continued to wait there until I heard the first door close.

I slid to the floor and sat in the middle of the room for a couple of seconds, letting the enormity of my job surround my every sense.

_Better get started. This is going to take a while. _

Robert Paisley: In front of Roberta Peterson but behind Robbie Overton.

I was on my last couple of files, and it was already 2:30 in the afternoon. I had taken off my heels two hours ago because walking up and down twenty-six aisles of cabinets in my four inch heels was hurting my feet.

I placed the last file in its cabinet and walked back to my shoes.

It was quarter to three and I still hadn't eaten.

_Think I might make a trip and go see Jasper. _

With that, I walked back to aisle A and my laptop bag.

I exited the floor and made sure that the Mission Impossible security doors were closed behind me before I got on the elevator and rode it to the 30th floor. Once I got off the elevator and exited I looked towards boss man's door just to glare at it a little for all the pain that my feet were in because of him.

As I turned towards the other elevator to press the button my eyes caught the secretary guard's sitting at the messy desk.

She smirked at me as I frowned a little, and got on the elevator.

Riding the elevator down to the bottom floor was a lonelier trip than I had anticipated. I thought I might like being alone for a little while, while not having to worry about files and legal documents. But I found myself in need of some human interaction, and the Starbuck's wasn't close enough.

I stopped the elevator at the 17th floor and walked past Jessica and through to mine and Emmett's office.

"Hey Em, I'm going for my lunch break, do you want anything from the café?" I said as I put my laptop down on my desk.

"No thanks, Bella. You're only going for your lunch break now? What have you been doing?" he asked skeptically.

"Mr. Boss Man had me sorting files. He said, that I had to finish the rack before I went for lunch. Just finished." I smiled. I liked talking to Emmett; he seemed to understand me, maybe because he was once an intern here as well.

"Ahhh yes, I remember the dreadful task of having to sort those horrid files. But don't worry. Eddie runs a tight schedule. You won't be in there for more than a month. Then you get to immerge and observe on a case or two while running more errands." He smiled at me sympathetically.

"Thanks. You sure you don't want anything?" I said as I grabbed my jacket, scarf and beanie.

"Nah, I'm good," he said, and with that I left the office and headed for the elevator.

Just as I was about to press the button on the silver panel I felt a small tap on my right shoulder. I turned around knowing that there was some one behind me that I probably didn't want to see or hear from. I turned around out of courtesy either way.

"Hey, Isabella," he said, grinning up at me. The sheer height of my heels had made me about six inches taller than the person in question.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

_Please tell me I didn't hit on him the other night._

"Well, not properly, but I know of you," he said,.

_Riiiight…because that helps me figure out who you are._

"Okay so…you are?" I said probing for this guy to get on with it.

"Mike, Mike Newton" he replied thrusting his hand towards me.

Taking his hand and shaking it, I replied, "Bella Swan, nice to meet you. Now if you don't mind I was on my way out"

"What a co-inkie dink! So am I!" he exclaimed loudly.

Did he really just say co-inkie dink?

"Okay…great," and with that I turned around and pressed the button on the silver panel to call forth the elevator.

"Did you know, the first reference to an elevator is in the works of the Roman architect Vitruvius? He reported that Archimedes built his first elevator probably in 236BC. But in later historical periods, elevators were mentioned as cabs on a hemp rope and powered by hand or by animals. Supposedly elevators of this type were installed in the Sinai monastery of Egypt," he said as we both loaded into the lift.

"No, I did not" I said, feigning interest while looking to the side away from him, hoping he would take it as a message to shut the hell up.

And it didn't stop there either. He just kept talking, non-stop, sprouting useless facts about things that we walked past.

"Did you know that stop signs were first implemented in Michigan in 1915…." I eventually learned to tune him out because he was so damn annoying.

As we rounded the corner and walked toward the Starbucks I pulled out my phone to check the time. 3:10 P.M.

_SHIT!_

I had been out of the office for ten minutes already and I didn't even have my coffee yet.

I started walking a little bit faster so that I could get to the shop faster, and prayed to God that Jasper was working and hadn't taken the day off to spend it with Alice, and vice versa.

As I walked into the nearly empty Starbucks I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Jasper was working, and that Alice was nowhere in sight. I placed a large smile on my face and walked up to the counter.

"Hey Jasper," I said, smiling at him.

"Hey Bella, how are we today?" he replied, but the look on my face said it all. Today was, in fact, not a good day.

"You know what? I'm just going to get to making your coffee. You sit down and I'll bring it to you," He said before I got a chance to tell him exactly how my day had been.

As I sat down I looked around for Mike hoping that perhaps he had ditched the effort of having lunch with me and was on his way to some other coffee shop or Starbucks. This Is New York City, there has to be another Starbucks on this block.

My searching was short lived though as I found him standing at the counter, ordering a drink and two pieces of chocolate cake from the other counterman.

When he felt my gaze upon his back he turned around and grinned at me.

_Fabulous, now he thinks that you were staring at his ass. _

I smiled back and he started making his way over with the cakes. Just before he was about to sit down, Jasper slid into where Mike was going to sit and started engaging me in a meaningless conversation. I had never been so thankful for a pointless conversation in my whole life.

As Mike's face dropped face he turned and sat at a window table on the other side of the shop.

"Wow, that was close. Thank you so much," I said, giving Jasper a desperate smile.

"The look on your face said it all," he replied. "I could see that you didn't look too grateful of his company the minute that you walked in the door, though I had assumed that he was just some stray from the street. I was wrong, correct?"

I nodded my head and took a sip of the cappuccino I had ordered.

"Indeed. He works on my floor, and he cornered me as I was trying to leave the office. I only get half an hour, so I have to leave in five," I said, tapping my wrist at the imaginary watch.

Note to self: buy a watch. That would make the motion so much more effective.

"Okay, I get it now. I have had my fair share of stalkers, so I understand how you feel," he said, trying to give me a sympathetic smile.

"I bet you have," I mumbled over the rim of my cup.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he jumped defensively.

"Oh, like you don't know," I said, tilting my head to the side with a questioning glance at him as I placed my cup on the table in front of me.

"I know my ignorance astounds you, but please… tell me," he begged.

"Nope, sorry. No can do. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself," I said, grinning and picking up my cup again.

"Hmm, I have this job because I enjoy not thinking," he gloomed, sticking his bottom lip out like a three year old child.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you had this job because you had no qualifications and couldn't get a job anywhere else, my mistake," I said, giggling. But he just glared at me.

"We have only known each other for three days. You're on rough water, Miss."

I stuck my hands up in mock surrender. "Oh, I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me," and I playfully cowered into the crook of my arm and whimpered.

"You're just ridiculous," he said, shaking his head as I came up for air and began to laugh.

"Yeah, whatever. At least I have a well paying and stable job," I laughed again. There was no harm intended in my gentle teasing, but I knew the second it came out of my mouth this banter between the two of us was too early, and that I may have crossed the line.

I looked up to make sure that I hadn't struck a nerve with Jasper and found him staring down at his hands.

"Ahhh shit," I mumbled. "Hey, mate, I'm sorry. I was just playing. I didn't mean it like that," I said, reaching a hand over and grabbing his.

"I know that. That's not why I'm upset. Not that I _am_ upset. Crying is for girls," he said, lifting his head, sniffling and then standing up.

"Look, I should probably get back to work, and so should you. You might be late." I looked up at his retreating figure and sighed.

_You have really fucked it up this time._

"Jasper!' I called, just as he was about to go through to the back room.

He turned around and faced me, his face completely void of emotion. "Yeah?" he said robotically.

"You know, you can call me if you need to talk," I said,.

"And what? Call Alice so that I can get through to you? No, thank you."

_Gotcha, it has something to do with Alice. _

"No need for that anymore. I have my own phone," and with that I pulled my Blackberry out my pocket and held it up to show him, grinning.

He smirked sadly back and came over to dial his number in. After that, I handed him a piece of paper with my number on it and gave him a tight squeeze. "Everything is going to be alright," I said, rubbing his back up and down.

"Thanks, Bella. I have only known you for three days, but I already know that we are going to be good friends." I smiled at him sadly and nodded.

With that he departed towards the back of the store and I grabbed my things heading back towards the office. I had some more filing to do.

By the time I had finished in the filing room it was nearly seven at night. There hadn't been as many files and documents on the second rack, so it didn't take as long, but it was still frustrating.

But what I had noticed, as I was leaving the building, was the amount of people that were still there at the same time as me.

I thought I would be the last one there.

When the elevator had stopped over the course of the descent to the ground to pick up other stray wanna be lawyers and company accountants, I noticed that the lights hadn't even been turned off.

_He really does run a tight ship. _

I remember turning to the guy standing beside me in the elevator and asking him why everyone was here so late. He had replied by saying that they had to finish what they were assigned for that day before they could go. Then he elaborated on the fact that yes, it is annoying, but that way they didn't take any work home with them.

I still struggled to see the bright side of leaving so late every night. At least if you were at home working you were still with your family, whether the interaction was minimal or not.

Something is not quite right here.

Just as I was getting in the taxi, I felt my Blackberry vibrate in my pocket. Then it started to make some funny noise, that I recognized as it ringing.

"Just a moment," I said into the mouth piece without looking at the caller ID.

I told the cab driver the address home and placed the phone back against my ear.

"Sorry, hello?" I said, resuming the previously cut off conversation with my masked caller.

"Hey Bella, it's Jasper," said a glum voice from the other end of the phone.

"Oh, hey Jasper, how are you?" I said, trying to liven up his mood a bit, though it didn't seem like that would be happening very easily.

"To tell you the truth, not so good,.I have all these thoughts running through my head, and I cant seem to get them out. I need the silence, Bella." His voice began to break as he began to explain to me what the problem was. My heart broke for him.

"Jasper, for me to help you have to tell me what exactly is going through your head. I'm no mind reader."

"Alice. She broke up with me."

_**Okay guys, I have to apologize MASSIVELY because this is extremely late but when I say that it just wasn't flowing? It wasn't flowing, no joke. But either way it is here now.**_

_**Okay so did everyone pick up on the intended angst in the end? I tried really hard to get that through, and am trying to channel the more serious side of the story while still keeping the soft humor in the background. Tell me what you think.**_

_**Also! Don't judge too hard on the last line, the start of the next chapter will explain everything, feel free to feel sorry for him etc he deserves it, and it will all be explained of Wednesday in the chapter that goes up then, hopefully lol.**_

_**Anyway, you guys will never guess what happened… fuck… I forgot what I was going to say, I really hate that don't you?**_

_**Anyway, are we all stoked for the spirit bound release? Im really excited. But unfortunately I have no money so I probably will have to wait for a while, so please no spoilers once everyone has read it.**_

_**Okay, perhaps, actually you know what? I am having the worst night, I cannot remember what I am going to say, it has been happening all the time. Im sitting on the couch typing up this authors note with the rents watching MasterChef, and it the commercial I will go to say something and all of a sudden I have completely forgotten what I was going to say. **_

_**Just not having a good say.**_

_**I also think matt preston looks like a prick. **_

_**Something tells me this authors note is going to be smaller and shorter than they normally are, but ina way that is good for you guys because you wont have to scroll down as far to get the review button XD **_

_**Anyway onto the question. **_

_**What is your three favourite foods**_

_** -my choices: **__olives, corn, oranges (they are my background on twitter!) (follow me at www . twitter . com / jesspeterson_

_**Top three favourite meals**_

_** -my choices: **__schnitzel, corn chowder, and mustard chicken._

_**Three favourite random activities**_

_** -my choices: **__cartwheels, skipping, acting like a chimpanzee with my 3 year old brother. _

_**Tell me what you think.**_

_**In a REVIEW **_

_**PS mini-moment 3 is going to be up tomorrow. **_


	7. MiniMoment 3 Liquid Confidence

_***I don't own twilight, but if I did, I would have had mason as a character rather than a figment of my imagination***_

_**Chapter Song: **__  
If one drink could make tonight, slip my mind than I  
should drink up so I can forget that I had to lose my life  
you are an example of better things to come  
so why wait on some other escape, that leads me nowhere fast  
I've gotta ask  
You've got nothing to lose  
except for me and you  
and I love that attitude  
when you I can do  
Im better than you  
__**-Liquid Confidence: You Me At Six**_

_**Mini-Moment 3- Liquid Confidence  
**_**Mason PoV**

"Mason my man!" Jerry called my name as I entered the Club to get ready for what to surly be another busy Friday night.

"Jerry, mate, how are you?" Jerry was the bouncer; he was the guy that let people in or out. And he was the guy that let me know about… things.

"I'm good man." He said as he finally approached me, clapping hands and pulling my into what was known as a guy hug. I still think they are ridiculous.

"good. Good. Now look man, tonight you have to keep the flow consistent, too many ladies last week, we have to keep the flow, besides, if they are not enough men, then who's going to buy the girls the drinks?" I laughed and clapped Jerry on the shoulder.

He was a good man, but he was a little bias towards the pretty ladies, in fact just the ladies in general.

"no problem man." He said grinning at me.

I looked down at my watch, thinking about how much time we had before the club opened, and going through a mental list of what still needed to be done before the doors opened.

The cleaning staff were just finishing up on the carpet and the dance floor. The kitchen crew were banging around loudly getting dishes and prep work ready for the night. Friday night was their busiest night as well.

I looked towards the large bar lining the side of the club and saw that Matt, AJ and Tony were drying some of the many glasses that we would go through tonight.

The DJ was fiddling and setting up some of his equipment and fiddling with the mic and turn tables.

Everything was almost ready. The light outside had gone, and I could hear people lining up behind the rope with Andy, the other bouncer.

"Jerry man, go help Andy, he sounds like he's getting stampeded." I laughed.

He returned the laugh with a low throaty chuckle, while nodding his head and heading towards the side door. If he had gone through the front door, there would be no way that he would be able to stop some of the milling women and tailing men trampling in through the door, and you wouldn't be able to get them out either.

It was about twenty minutes till opening and I found myself thinking back to the first night I had opened, I was so nervous that the club was going to be a total bust, and all the money that I had borrowed from the bank and Emmett, was going to all go down the drain.

I had been so surprised when people had piled their way in when we opened the doors, that I wasn't paying attention and was knocked into by so many people.

When I was done reminiscing about that night, I had found that I had about five minutes to take my spot behind the bar along with the other guys, but I still hadn't taken off my thick winter coat and put my laptop bag in my office.

I walked down the long hallway that had spurred off next to the bar blocked by a door emblazoned with the sign 'Employees Only'.

In my office I dispatched my coat and placed my laptop in the bag, on my desk and headed back out o the main room just in time for Andy and Jerry to open the doors.

As I had expected, there were quite a lot of people that came in a steady flow for about twenty minutes, and then as Andy and Jerry cut the door off, it stopped filling, but never did it slow down at the bar.

I was filling orders left right and centre, while trying to dodge Matt or AJ who were next to me, and constantly having to shoo me because I was standing in front of the liquor they needed.

The night went on like that steadily for about three hours, Matt, AJ and tony all rotating to take breaks at regular intervals, where as I was in my zone. This is what I was meant to do, I took no breaks.

Until then.

It was about 11:30 and I was finally starting to need a little breather from the heavy thumping of the music and the constant smell of alcohol constantly enveloping all of my senses.

I told the guys that I was taking a breather. They ushered me out from behind the bar and I skidded myself along the wall and pushed open the employees only door and headed towards my office. As soon as I was out of the massive room filled with alcohol, adrenaline and hormones, the feeling hit me.

I was absolutely exhausted. Nothing about the shift I had just taken was easy, or slow for a matter of fact. I needed to make a decision, and I decided that I didn't want to work the bar anymore that night, I could leave it up the guys. They would be getting a reprieve from the late night crew in half an hour anyway, so I didn't feel so bad.

After I had made my decision I decided to take a nap, I was that buggered.

Not to my surprise, I got no sleep. The constant pounding of the bass and screaming of people made it impossible to sleep, so I took the opportunity to do some scouting. The non professional kind.

I walked out to see the midnight shift and said hi to the guys, while grabbing a beer out of the fridge.

As I was about to walk out from behind and scout the dance floor, a flash of white blonde hair caught my eye.

I turned around and saw one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She was extremely short. About the same height as that Alice girl that I had met at Bella's apartment the other day.

She was wearing a tight black dress, that to a designer or someone that likes fashion, it would look pretty plain. But on her she looking incredible. As I followed her incredibly thin frame and down her amazing legs I came to a pair of silver heels, they looked like death traps.

_How to women wear those things on their feet every single day is beyond me._

I just had to talk to her.

I drained my fresh and still cold beer, took a deep breath, puffed up my chest and psyching myself up so that I could work up the courage to talk to her and get her a drink.

I started walking over towards the amazingly beautiful woman and ran things about how I caould aske her through my head. But by the time that I had made it over there and was taping her on the shoulder I had forgotten what I was even over here for.

That's when I noticed the women around her, and she was standing there with a table of what looked to be very close friends.

_It's too late now dickhead…shit._

As she turned around to face me and I got a real and up close glimpse at her I smiled. I knew she was as gorgeous as she was from the front.

"can I help you?" she asked smiling sweetly while looking up at me.

Just as I was thinking about what I was going to say and about how nervous I would be, I noticed that she had already asked a question, and in my urgency to not look like a dickhead I just said what I had come there to say.

"can I get you ladies some drinks? A pitcher of cosmos perhaps?" I asked, looking towards the blonde beauty and then to all the girls as their little bar table.

"sure, it you can get through that line" my angel said pointing to the line backing up in front of the bar and onto the dance floor.

"no a problem" I said, and then with that I was off, going to mix a jug of cosmos and whatever else these ladies required so that I could stare at the angel all night without one of them thinking I was perving on their friend.

When I had arrived back at the table and given them their drinks, they had naturally questioned how I had come by them so quickly, and I naturally, told them about how I owned the bar, and that I had a tab for them, which I would cover.

They had squealed like teenage girls for about five minutes at the prospects of keeping them blind.

And they were blind. In about half an hour I was dancing with Elissa (that was her name I had found out.) and they were off rubbing themselves against poles and sucking off bikies junk in the bathrooms.

But when Elissa kissed me like I had been wanting all night I froze. The feel of her lips against mine was the most amazing feel I had ever had the pleasure to feel. I kicked myself for refusing her drunken attempt at kissing me in the hope of more, and kissed her back.

I would like to say that it ended at that but it didn't.

As things started to get a little more heated on the dance floor, my subconscious told me that if I didn't move us we would end up fucking in the middle of the dance floor.

I dragged her back to the edge of the room and through the employees only door and into my private office, that happened to have a _very _good lock.

I locked us away and we did MA rated stuff, but the second we were finished, I sat up and thought that I would be able to get over her and wait for the next escapade and nice ass that walked passed.

But I couldn't. The image of her smiling up at me, who happened to be a complete stranger, and making me feel the way I did, I should have known that it wouldn't be the dame afterwards.

I should have known that when I saw her and looked her up and down, the animal inside of me was accompanied something more paternal and pure.

And I knew that I had royally fucked up.

Now don't start to think that I am some kind of cheesy romantic guy that does the flowers and all that shit because to tell you the truth? Im not, in fact the farthest thing from it.

But she made me want to be able to chase after her, and to work up to this point. I didn't want her to see me as some drunken mistake. I wanted her to want to stick around. I wish she could take a chance on me, she had nothing to lose.

**Alright, what did you think? This one was more of a recent one, I wanted to let you have a little insight into Mason and his character, and now Elissa. If you didn't pick it up, the last couple of sentences kind of solidified your questions on whether she would be a bigger part of the story, yes she will, so get excited. **

**Your questions for today. **

**Favorite Band(s): MINE: **Paramore, You Me At Six, Boys Like Girls (GOING TO SEE THEM ON THE 14th OF JULY, SO STOKED!)

**How many piercing do you have: MIINE: **6, my ears, the normal, the doubles, so the ones next to them and then the top…also my belly button…. SEXY (joking)

**A strange fact about you: MINE: **I eat one thing on my plate at a time, and clockwise.

_**REVIEW**_


End file.
